C  ,'^^.X 


Jntttt  X\\t  Stbrarg  of 

lpqupatl|pb  by  I|tm  to 

tl|p  library  of 

J^rlnrpton  S^lipolo^tral  g>fmtnary 


BV  4501  .S55  1912 

Simpson,  A.  B. 

Life  more  abundantly 


Life  More  Abundantly 


A.  B.  SIMPSON 


CHRISTIAN  ALLIANCE  PUB.  CO. 

692  EIGHTH  AVENUE 
NEW    YORK 


COPYRIGHT  1912 
CHRISTIAN  ALLIANCE  PUBLISHING  CO. 


INTRODUCTION. 

"I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that 
they  might  have  it  more  abundantly."     John  x :  lo 

>T^HAT  is  life?  It  is  not  hard  to  tell  what 
^^  life  does,  but  what  life  is  no  human 
definition  has  yet  satisfactorily  explained. 

The  lowest  form  of  organic  life  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom  marks  the  beginning  of 
a  new  world  in  nature.  The  tiny  moss  on 
the  summit  of  the  mighty  mountain,  if  it 
could  speak  and  think,  might  say,  'T  am 
greater  than  this  mountain,  because  I  have 
organic  life.  The  mountain  is  an  inert  mass. 
I  spring  from  a  living  seed.  I  grow  by  a 
vital  process.  I  drink  in  nourishment  from 
the  air  around  me  and  the  soil  beneath  me. 
I  bear  my  little  bud  and  blossom  and  leave 
behind  me  a  living  seed  which  will  propa- 
gate my  kind  and  give  to  me  through  my 
fruit  a  perennial  life.    I  live." 


Introduction 

The  smallest  insect  on  the  topmost 
branches  of  that  magnificent  palmtree  can 
look  down  with  just  pride  on  the  vegetable 
kingdom  and  say,  "I  am  greater  than  this 
palm  and  all  the  flowers  and  forests  of  this 
land,  for  I  have  animal  life.  I  am  con- 
scious of  my  existence  and  this  palmtree  is 
not.  If  it  were  cut  down,  it  would  not  know 
it,  but  I  know  the  joy  of  living  and  the  pain 
of  suffering.    In  a  still  higher  sense  I  live." 

The  little  child  can  look  up  at  the  mam- 
moth elephant  or  the  noble  horse  and  say, 
"You  could  destroy  me  by  the  faintest  ef- 
fort, but  I  am  greater  than  you,  for  I  have 
intellectual  life,  I  have  human  life,  I  have 
immortal  life,  I  have  a  life  which  can  be  edu- 
cated until  I  shall  master  the  elephant  and 
all  the  strength  and  cunning  of  the  animal 
world  and  assert  my  lordship  over  the 
whole  realm  of  nature.  In  a  still  higher 
sense  I  live." 

The  most  humble  and  uncultured  saint, 
perhaps  a  poor  black  man  just  converted  in 
the  jungles  of  Africa,  or  a  lowly  laborer, 
toiling  in  some  factory  or  mine,  can  look  in 
the  face  of  the  most  brilliant  human  genius 
who  knows  not  God  in  personal  faith  and 


Introduction 

fellowship,  and  say,  "I  live  in  a  higher  world 
than  you,  for  I  have  spiritual  life,  I  have 
eternal  life,  I  have  a  life  that  death  cannot 
destroy  and  sin  cannot  defile  and  judgment 
cannot  dismay,  and  eternal  ages  can  never 
end.    I  have  everlasting  life." 

And  yet  once  more  I  see  a  saint  of  God 
arise  and  testify  to  a  yet  higher  life  than  all 
this.  "I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ," 
he  cries,  "nevertheless  I  live."  And  then 
as  even  this  new  life  which  Christ  has  given 
fails  to  fully  satisfy  him,  I  hear  him  cry 
yet  once  more,  "Not  I,  but  Christ  which  liv- 
eth  in  me,  and  the  life  that  I  now  live  in  the 
flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God, 
who  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for  me."  "I 
have  not  only  spiritual  life,  everlasting  life, 
the  life  of  the  heaven  born  soul,  but  I  have 
divine  life,  I  have  the  Christ  life,  I  have  God 
Himself  to  live  within  me." 

Beloved,  was  this  what  the  Master  meant 
when  He  said,  "I  am  come  that  they  might 
have  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly"?  Have  you  that  life,  and  have 
you  that  life  more  abundantly? 

If  you  were  born  to  perish  like  the  brute, 


Introduction 

you  might  be  content  with  the  lower  forms 
of  life,  but  as  a  child  of  immortality  and 
and  heir  of  grace  and  glory,  are  you  mak- 
ing the  most  of  life? 


First  Day 
THE  TRUE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE 

"The  time  is  short:  it  remaineth,  that  they  that 
use  this  world,  be  as  not  abusing  it."     i    Cor.  vii: 

29,  31- 

^T^HAT  is  the  supreme  significance  of 
^"^  life?  Is  it  a  pleasant  pastime,  or  is  it 
a  solemn  probation,  a  swiftly  passing 
springtime  from  whose  wise  sowing  the 
harvests  of  time  and  eternity  are  to  be 
reaped?  There  is  the  human  side,  the  beau- 
ty, the  joy,  the  romance,  the  sunshine  and 
the  bloom ;  but  there  is  the  seriousness  of 
life's  conflicts,  death's  tragedy  and  eternity's 
mighty  issues.  No  man  can  make  the  most 
of  life  until  he  has  looked  all  these  things  in 
the  face  and  learned  the  highest  meaning  of 
the  old  motto,  "Dum  vivimus,  vivamus." 

"  'Live  while  you  live,'  the  epicure  would  say, 
'And  seize  the  pleasures  of  the  present  day.' 
'Live  while  you  live,'  the  sacred  preacher  cries, 


Life  More  Abundantly 

'And  give  to  God  each  moment  as  it  flies.' 

Lord,  in  our  view,  let  both  united  be. 

We  live  in  pleasure  while  we  live  to  Thee.' 


An  old  writer  compares  the  worldling  to 
a  child  sitting  on  the  branches  of  a  fruitful 
tree,  growing  over  an  abyss  and  thought- 
lessly eating  the  fruit,  while  two  worms 
called  Day  and  Night,  were  slowly  eating 
through  the  branch,  until  it  suddenly  fell 
and  plunged  him  in  the  abyss.  No  man  or 
woman  can  safely  give  his  supreme  atten- 
tion to  earthly  things  until  his  eternal  inter- 
ests are  insured. 

The  people  that  are  wasting  the  spring- 
time of  life  in  thoughtless  pleasure  may 
well  be  compared  to  the  crew  of  a  ship- 
wrecked vessel  who  were  thrown  upon  a  fer- 
tile island  and  only  succeeded  in  saving 
their  cargo  of  wheat  and  bringing  it  ashore. 
The  wise  ones  suggested  that  they  should 
plant  it  in  the  fertile  soil  and  assure  them- 
selves of  future  supplies,  but  as  they  were 
about  to  engage  in  this  wise  prevision  and 
provision,  one  of  the  company  returned  from 
an  excursion  over  the  hills  with  the  report 
that  he  had  found  a  gold  mine  of  inexhausti- 


The  True  Purpose  of  Life  9 

ble  wealth.  Immediately  they  all  started 
for  the  mine  and  spent  the  summer  in  amass- 
ing enormous  fortunes  meanwhile  feeding 
upon  the  wheat  which  they  should  have 
planted.  Suddenly,  the  winds  of  autumn 
began  to  blow  and  they  awoke  with  a  start 
to  find  their  food  supply  well  nigh  gone. 
They  began  eagerly  to  plant  the  remaining 
seed,  but  it  rotted  in  the  furrows  and  they 
were  left  to  die  of  starvation,  surrounded 
by  millions  and  billions  of  worthless  gold. 
Dear  friend  are  you  wasting  life's  supreme 
opportunity  like  them,  and  some  day  will 
you  hear  the  blasts  of  life's  autumn  moaning 
over  your  despairing  deathbed,  "The  har- 
vest is  past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  we 
are  not  saved"?  No  wise  man  will  go  to 
sleep,  knowing  that  the  insurance  on  his 
property  has  lapsed  without  immediately 
renewing  it.  And  no  sane  mortal  will  ven- 
ture to  leave  his  soul  without  that  divine  in- 
surance of  which  he  can  say  *T  know  whom 
I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  He 
is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed 
unto  Him  against  that  day." 


Second  Day 

LOSING  ONE'S  LIFE 

"What  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?"    Mark  viii :  36. 

XT  is  acknowledged  by  scholars  that  the 
word  "soul"  here  means  life.  But  the 
life  of  which  the  Lord  was  speaking 
was  much  more  than  mere  animal  existence. 
The  Lord  Himself  has  taught  us  that  "life 
is  more  than  meat"  and  that  "a  man's  life 
consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth."  Life  means 
all  the  possibilities  of  human  destiny  both 
for  this  life  and  that  which  is  to  come.  It  is 
possible  to  lose  one's  life  in  this  great  and 
momentous  sense.  It  is  possible  to  miss  all 
the  high  and  glorious  things  for  which  exist- 
ence has  been  given  us,  and  to  be  flung  aside 
like  a  ghastly  wreck  on  the  shores  of 
despair,  while  the  wild  waves  murmur  over 


Losing  One's  Life  ii 

the  pitiful  ruin,  "It  were  good  for  that  man, 
if  he  had  never  been  born." 

Better  that  all  the  ships  of  all  the  seas 
were  wrecked;  better  that  some  splendid 
city  should  sink  in  an  earthquake ;  better  that 
the  world  itself  should  be  dissolved  in  some 
terrestrial  cataclysm,  than  that  one  immortal 
soul  should  thus  be  lost.  The  Word  of  God 
is  overshadowed  with  some  lurid  phrases 
and  figures  that  hint  at  such  catastrophes. 
When  Jesus  spake  of  men,  He  said  they 
were  lost.  When  He  revealed  the  Father's 
love  in  sending  His  Son,  it  was  that  they 
might  not  perish.  This  text  ends  with  a  ter- 
rible expression,  "a  castaway,"  and  the  most 
loving  heart  that  ever  throbbed  said  of  one 
man  that  "it  were  better  he  had  never  been 
born." 

The  Greek  word  for  sin  literally  means  to 
miss  the  mark.  It  is  the  picture  of  a  lost 
life,  a  soul  that  has  missed  the  way,  made 
shipwreck  of  existence,  perverted  its  pow- 
ers, abused  its  opportunities  and  irretriev- 
ably and  eternally  perished. 

But  our  Master's  words  suggest  that  no- 
body can  finally  wreck  a  human  soul  but  the 
man  himself.  Sin,  even  the  unpardonable  sin 


12  Life  More  Abundantly 

is  an  act  of  willfulness  and  recklessness  in 
spite  of  all  the  restraint  of  divine  love  and 
grace,  and  ruined  souls  shall  forever  realize 
that  they  have  lost  themselves  and  been 
guilty  of  spiritual  and  eternal  suicide. 

The  great  peril  of  men  and  women  is  that 
they  do  not  realize  the  sacredness  and 
solemnity  of  life.  They  treat  it  as  a  pleas- 
ant holiday  rather  than  a  great  probation 
and  a  supreme  opportunity.  Oh,  that  God 
would  impress  upon  every  reader  of  these 
lines  the  solemnity  of  having  only  one  life 
to  live  and  that  life  fraught  with  all  the 
possibilities  of  endless  joy  or  misery. 

"Not  many  lives  have  we,  but  one. 

One,  only  one, 
How  precious  should  that  one  life  ever  be, 

That  narrow  span." 

But  our  text  suggests  a  second  question 
which  sheds  the  light  of  hope  upon  the  dark 
vision  of  human  danger  and  sin.  "What 
shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  life?" 
If  he  has  lost  it,  is  there  any  ransom  by 
which  it  may  be  recovered? 

The  Master  gave  His  life  to  answer  that 


Losing  One's  Life  13 

tremendous  question.  Our  life  was  lost, 
but  we  have  been  redeemed,  not  with  cor- 
ruptible things,  but  with  the  precious  blood 
of  Christ.  And  now  He  gives  us  back  our 
lost  life  and  with  it  His  grace  to  keep  that 
sacred  trust  from  ever  again  becoming  for- 
feited. 

John  Newton,  of  England,  when  a  wicked 
sailor  was  brought  to  Christ  by  an  awful 
dream.  One  night  as  he  swung  in  his  ham- 
mock on  the  Adriatic  after  a  day  of  drunk- 
enness and  debauchery,  he  dreamed  that  he 
was  standing  upon  the  deck  of  his  ship, 
holding  in  his  hand  a  beautiful  ring  of  in- 
estimable value.  Suddenly,  a  demon  form 
appeared  before  him  and  dared  him  to  drop 
it  into  the  sea.  Recklessly  he  accepted  the 
challenge  and  flung  away  his  priceless  jewel. 
And  the  Devil  danced  for  joy  and  told  him 
he  had  lost  his  soul,  while  all  along  the  Ad- 
riatic shore  the  mountains  were  lurid  with 
the  lightning  flames  which  portended  the 
judgment  he  had  just  defied.  He  was  filled 
with  consternation  and  despair. 

Suddenly,  the  Lord  Jesus  stood  beside 
him  and  asked  him  if  he  wished  his  precious 
treasure  restored.     He  eagerly  begged  His 


14  Life  More  Abundantly 

help  and  mercy.  The  Saviour  plunged  into 
the  wild  and  stormy  sea,  and  at  length 
emerged  and  reached  the  deck,  holding  in 
His  hand  the  precious  jewel,  but  bearing 
upon  His  face  the  traces  of  agony  and  con- 
flict. John  Newton  threw  himself  at  His 
feet  and  reached  out  his  hand  for  the  pre- 
cious ring.  But  the  Master  held  it  back  and 
said,  "You  have  thrown  away  your  soul 
once,  and  at  infinite  cost  I  have  redeemed 
it.  I  will  not  again  trust  it  to  your  keeping, 
but  will  guard  your  treasure  for  you,  and  it 
will  be  awaiting  you  at  the  gate  of  heaven." 
The  English  sailor  awoke  from  his  dream  to 
give  his  life  to  God  and  to  live  for  the  salva- 
tion of  his  fellowmen.  So  have  we  been  lost 
and  saved.  Let  us  trust  Him  to  keep  that 
which  we  have  committed  to  His  trust. 


Third  Day 

COMING    SHORT 

"Let  us  therefore  fear  lest  a  promise  being  left 
us  of  entering  into  His  rest  any  of  you  should  seem 
to  come  short  of  it."     Hebrews  iv :  i. 

l^s^O  lose  one's  life  utterly  and  irretrieva- 
^^  bly  is  indeed  a  catastrophe.  But  to 
miss  the  mark  and  just  come  short  of 
achieving  and  attaining  is  a  tragedy  of  un- 
speakable pathos. 

One  of  the  saddest  pictures  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  the  story  of  the  people  that 
escaped  from  Egypt,  crossed  the  Jordan  and 
began  their  march  toward  the  Promised 
Land,  but  at  the  very  gates  of  Canaan  failed 
to  enter  in. 

They  came  to  the  gates  of  Canaan, 

But  they  never  entered  in; 
They  came  to  the  very  threshold, 

But  they  perished  in  their  sin. 


i6  Life  More  Abundantly 

Two  men  attempt  to  leap  across  a  chasm. 
The  one  misses  the  perilous  venture  by  a 
yard ;  the  other  by  half  an  inch ;  but  both  are 
lost.  Two  men  enter  a  competitive  exami- 
nation, on  which  their  future  destiny  and 
honor  depend.  The  one  completely  fails, 
the  other  just  misses;  but  the  sadder  of  the 
two  failures  is  the  last.  How  solemn  is  the 
warning,  "Let  us  therefore  fear  lest  a  prom- 
ise being  left  us  of  entering  into  His  rest 
any  of  you  should  seem  to  come  short  of 
it." 

Here  are  two  engines.  The  boilers  are 
both  filled  with  water,  but  in  one  the  fur- 
nace is  cold  and  the  fires  are  out.  In  the 
other  the  water  is  hot,  the  coal  is  burning, 
and  the  temperature  is  away  up  above  200 
degrees ;  but  both  trains  are  standing  still. 
That  boiler  must  rise  to  212  degrees  before 
the  piston  moves  and  the  train  can  leave  the 
station.  It  is  the  fulness  of  blessing  that 
counts.  It  is  the  temperature  of  the  heart 
that  tells.  It  is  the  one  broken  link  that 
makes  the  whole  chain  utterly  useless  and 
dangerous.  It  is  the  last  step  that  counts, 
and  the  last  half  hour  that  wins. 

There  is  a  promise  left  us  of  entering  intq 


Coming  Short  17 

His  rest.  That  promise  has  been  repeated 
many  times  and  in  many  forms.  It  is  a 
promise  large  and  glorious,  a  promise  of 
victory  over  sin,  Satan  and  the  world,  and 
of  all  the  possibilities  of  grace  and  glory. 
But  its  fulfilment  is  dependent  at  every  step 
upon  our  response  and  our  faithfulness. 
There  is  a  peace  that  passeth  all  understand- 
ing, but  the  condition  must  be  met,  "Be 
careful  for  nothing."  There  is  a  "rest"  unto 
our  souls  that  we  may  find,  but  again  the 
condition  is,  "Take  My  yoke  upon  you  and 
learn  of  Me."  There  is  a  "great  peace"  that 
"nothing  can  ofifend,"  but  it  is  given  to  them 
that  love  His  law.  We  may  be  kept  in  "per- 
fect peace,"  but  our  mind  must  be  stayed  on 
Him.  There  is  a  rest  that  remaineth  for  the 
people  of  God,  but  it  is  only  they  who  be- 
lieve that  enter  into  rest.  Are  we  meeting 
these  conditions?  Are  we  standing  on  the 
ground  of  faith  and  taking  the  place  of 
blessing,  or  are  we  COMING  SHORT? 


Fourth  Day 
ETERNAL    LIFE 

"I  give  unto  them  eternal  life;  and  they  shall 
never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck  them  out 
of  my  hand."    John  x :  28. 

>J^E  find  the  Lord  Jesus  speaking  of  eter- 
^^^  nal  life.  Many  persons  have  an  idea 
that  this  refers  exckisively  to  our  future 
existence  and  is  a  promise  of  salvation  after 
death.  Is  this  not  a  narrow  and  false  con- 
ception? The  life  which  Christ  gives  is  a 
kind  of  life  which  begins  now,  but  belongs 
to  the  higher  realm  of  eternal  things.  There 
is  a  striking  passage  in  Ecclesiastes,  "He 
hath  put  eternity  in  their  heart."  God  lives  in 
eternity  and  there  is  a  section  of  eternity 
in  every  human  soul.  We  are  too  big  for 
this  earthly  sphere  and  have  outreachings 
and  needs  that  belong  to  the  eternal  realm. 
When  God  saves  a  man,  He  puts  into  him 
His   own    life   and   brings   him    into   touch 


Eternal  Life  19 

with  a  new  world  of  spiritual  and  eternal 
realities.  "This  is  life  eternal,"  the  Lord 
Jesus  tells  us,  "that  ye  may  know  Him,  the 
living  and  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom 
He  hath  sent." 

Eternal  life,  therefore,  means  restoration 
to  the  favor  and  fellowship  of  God  and  the 
creation  within  us  of  a  new  spiritual  life, 
qualified  to  maintain  communion  with  Him. 
In  a  word,  it  brings  us  a  heavenborn  life, 
that  experience  which  is  described  technical- 
ly as  regeneration.  We  become  partakers  of 
the  divine  nature  and  the  sons  of  God,  not 
by  adoption,  but  by  heavenly  birth.  This  is 
the  special  gift  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  those 
who  receive  Him.  "As  many  as  received 
Him  to  them  gave  He  the  power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe 
on  His  name,  which  v/ere  born  not  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 
will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

The  writer  was  once  called  to  visit  a  dy- 
ing boy  who  had  no  conception  of  religion. 
He  had  only  a  few  hours  to  live  and  it  was 
a  difficult  problem  to  know  how  without 
alarming  him,  to  bring  conviction  to  his 
soul.    He  had  no  sense  of  sin  and  thought 


20  Life  More  Abundantly 

he  had  been  so  good  a  boy  that  he  would  be 
all  right  in  the  next  world.  Suddenly  he 
called  the  lad's  attention  to  a  canary  of 
which  he  seemed  fond,  and  startled  him  by 
asking  if  they  were  intimate  friends  and 
talked  together  much  about  things.  The 
lad  was  amazed  and  almost  thought  his  visi- 
tor had  lost  his  mind.  "Why,"  he  an- 
swered, "how  could  we  talk  together?  He 
could  not  understand  me,  he  has  only  the 
mind  of  a  bird."  Instantly  the  application 
was  made.  "Suppose  you  should  find  your- 
self in  heaven  to-morrow,  would  you  be  able 
to  enjoy  the  companionship  of  Christ  and 
the  saints  of  God  who  are  there  any  more 
than  that  canary  can  understand  you?  You 
need  to  have  the  mind  of  God  put  into  you, 
just  as  much  as  that  bird  would  need  a  hu- 
man mind  to  understand  you."  The  simple 
illustration  brought  conviction  of  his  need 
of  a  new  divine  life,  and  after  a  little  simple 
teaching  and  earnest  prayer,  the  light  broke, 
the  Lord  Jesus  came,  the  life  of  God  touched 
his  dead  soul  and  before  the  next  morning 
had  dawned,  he  had  passed  triumphantly  to 
the  home  above.  Beloved  friend,  have  you 
received  eternal  life,  the  gift  of  God,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord? 


Fifth  Day 

SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

"The  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath 
made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death." 
Rom.  viii  :2. 

^<fWO  laws  are  here  assumed,  the  law  of 
^^  sin  and  death,  and  the  law  of  the  Spirit 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  former  bears  us 
down  like  a  fatal  and  resistless  current.  The 
other  overcomes  that  downward  trend  and 
Hfts  us  up  to  righteousness  and  hfe.  A  sim- 
ple illustration  from  the  natural  world  will 
fix  these  laws  vividly  in  our  imagination. 
The  law  of  gravitation  causes  a  heavy  body 
to  fall  to  the  ground.  Under  that  law  my 
hand  would  fall  helpless  if  it  were  paralyzed 
and  deprived  of  life.  But  there  is  a  higher 
law  residing  in  my  will.  It  is  the  law  of  life 
and  in  the  exercise  of  that  law  I  am  able  to 
lift  my  hand  and  use  it  at  my  will.    In  like 


22  Life  More  Abundantly 

manner  the  natural  heart  is  helpless  under 
the  law  of  sin  and  death  and  we  are  swept 
by  the  current  of  temptation  and  the  im- 
pulse of  our  natural  depravity  into  evil.  But 
the  grace  of  God  introduces  a  new  law  into 
the  human  heart,  the  law  of  life,  the  life  of 
Christ,  and  through  the  power  of  this  new 
principle  we  are  able  to  overcome  the  ten- 
dencies of  our  natural  hearts  and  to  will  and 
do  after  God's  good  pleasure. 

The  apostle  vividly  portrays  the  operation 
of  these  two  laws  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
chapters  of  Romans.  All  the  force  of  his 
own  volition,  even  though  he  was  a  regen- 
erated man,  was  insufficient  to  overcome  the 
tendency  of  the  old  law  of  sin  and  death. 
"I  see  another  law  in  my  members"  he  cries, 
"warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and 
bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin 
which  is  in  my  members.  Oh,  wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from 
this  body  of  death!"  It  is  then  that  the 
vision  of  Christ  appears  and  he  exclaims, 
"Thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  He  soon  after  sums  up  the  philos- 
ophy of  his  supernatural  change  in  the  lan- 
guage of  our  text  "The  law  of  the  spirit  of 


Spiritual  Life  23 

life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death." 

Briefly  summarized  that  law  signifies : 

1.  A  new  principle  of  life,  a  vital  force,  a 
spontaneous  and  automatic  impulse  which 
irresistibly  overcomes  the  corruption  of  our 
fallen  nature  and  bears  the  fruits  of  right- 
eousness just  as  naturally  as  the  living  vine 
bears  its  fruit,  or  as  a  living  man  bears  him- 
self and  his  burdens  too. 

2.  The  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  not  a 
mere  human  life,  not  even  the  new  life  of 
the  converted  soul,  but  the  living  Christ 
Himself  united  to  us  and  re-living  His  own 
life  in  us. 

3.  All  this  is  brought  about  and  made  real 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  who  comes  as  the  Spirit 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  unites  us  to  the  Sav- 
iour, and  enables  us  to  live  out  His  life  mo- 
ment by  moment.  Thus  the  apostle's  testi- 
mony is  fulfilled,  "I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me." 

Dear  friend,  are  you  trying  the  hopeless 
experiment  of  living  an  ideal  Christian  life 
on  mere  ethical  principles?  Are  you  at- 
tempting to  translate  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  into  your  experience  by  mere  force  of 


24  Life  More  Abundantly 

will  and  habit?  Are  you  endeavoring  to  live 
up  to  the  example  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
by  simply  putting  your  feet  in  His  foot- 
prints and  trying  to  copy  His  example?  You 
are  doomed  to  disappointment.  Ideals  will 
not  do  it.  Examples  will  not  do  it.  Ethical 
principles  will  not  do  it.  The  highest  and 
purest  intentions  will  not  do  it.  It  requires 
a  divine  Force  to  live  the  divine  life.  The 
secret  was  given  long  ago  by  the  prophet 
Ezekiel  in  his  message  to  those  to  whom  he 
had  promised  a  new  heart  and  a  right  spirit. 
But  that  new  heart  was  not  able  to  overcome 
the  old  nature  and  the  forces  of  evil  with- 
out a  mightier  Force  behind  it,  and  so  he 
adds,  "I  will  put  My  Spirit  within  you,  and 
cause  you  to  walk  in  My  statutes,  and  ye 
shall  keep  My  judgments  and  do  them." 
Have  you  found  this  causing  Power?  Have 
you  come  into  the  "law  of  the  Spirit  of  life 
in  Christ  Jesus"? 


Sixth  Day 
SPONTANEOUS  LIFE 

"I    will    put    my    law    in    their    inward    parts    and 
write  it  in  their  heart."    Jer.  xxxi :  33. 

^=^HE  highest  Christian  life  is  vital,  not 
vl/    mechanical.     A  house  is  built  on  me- 
chanical principles  by  adding  section  to  sec- 
tion from  without.    A  tree  is  constructed  on 
the  vital  principle  by  adding  layer  upon  lay- 
er from  within.  Spiritual  Ufe  is  vital,  spring- 
ing from  an  inner  source  and  clothing  itself 
with  the  appropriate    expression,    manifes- 
tation  and   fruition.     Under   the   law   men 
tried  to  build  up  a  righteousness  of  effort 
and  external  worship  and  work.    It  was  like 
the  cocoanuts  often  seen  tied  to  a  palm  tree 
in  a  heathen  graveyard,  where  the  fruit  had 
been  attached  to  the  tree  as  an  offering  to 
the  spirits  of  the  dead.    The  fruit  was  tied 
on  mechanically  and  there  was  a  dead  man 
at  the  root.    This  is  true  of  all  human  self 


26  Life  More  Abundantly 

righteousness.  Spiritual  fruit  grows  spon- 
taneously from  a  vital  root  and  a  living  tree. 
The  Christian  does  not  need  so  much  to  try 
to  produce  the  fruit,  as  to  have  the  life  more 
abundantly.  Therefore  the  Master  hath 
said,  "He  that  abideth  in  Me  and  I  in  him 
the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  God 
is  not  seeking  so  much  to  have  us  do  more 
for  Him,  as  to  take  more  from  Him,  and 
thus  of  His  own  shall  we  give  back  to  Him 
again. 

The  prophet  Jeremiah  anticipated  this 
new  method  of  righteousness  by  his  glorious 
vision  of  the  new  covenant  which  God  would 
make  with  His  people  in  the  New  Testament 
age.  He  declares,  'T  will  put  my  law  in  their 
inward  parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts." 
He  creates  within  us  a  new  spontaneous 
principle  of  righteousness,  which  is  its 
own  law  and  manifests  itself  after  its  own 
nature  in  righteousness,  holiness  and  love. 
The  principle  of  Christian  obedience  is  we 
do  it  not  because  we  have  to,  but  because 
we  love  to.  This  is  the  automatic  force 
which  God  uses  even  in  the  natural  world 
to  accomplish  the  most  extraordinary  trans- 
formations.   What  is  the  explanation  of  the 


spontaneous  Life  27 

patient  toil  of  that  laboring  man  who  day 
after  day  and  year  after  year  spends  hia 
life  in  his  monotonous  and  grimy  task  in 
factory  or  mine  ?  It  is  the  thought  of  wife  and 
children,  whose  loving  welcome  at  night 
and  whose  welfare  and  happiness  are  his  suf- 
ficient reward.  God  holds  the  world  togeth- 
er, with  all  its  countless  hearts  and  homes, 
by  these  spontaneous  forces  of  human  love. 
How  often  have  we  seen  some  selfish  girl 
suddenly  transformed  into  a  patient,  toil- 
ing and  happy  wife  and  mother,  willing  to 
spend  her  night  in  unrequited  and  extreme 
labor  and  sacrifice  for  her  little  household, 
and  asking  no  other  recompense  than  their 
happiness  and  affection.  So  God  in  the 
higher  realm  of  grace  puts  into  human 
hearts  the  magic  secret  of  a  great  love,  and 
this  transforms  selfishness  to  sacrifice  and 
sordidness  to  service. 

Then  there  is  infinite  relief  in  the  delight- 
ful positiveness  of  this  higher  principle  of 
life.  We  do  not  have  to  be  continually 
thinking  of  the  things  we  should  not  do, 
but  keep  occupied  with  Christ  and  the  light 
will  keep  out  the  darkness  and  the  good  will 
overcome  the  evil. 


28  Life  More  Abundantly 

The  story  is  told  of  a  river  captain  who 
applied  to  a  shipping  office  in  New  Orleans 
for  a  position.  He  was  asked  if  he  could 
run  a  boat  on  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio.  He 
"reckoned"  that  he  could.  He  was  then 
asked  if  he  knew  where  all  the  snags  were  on 
these  dangerous  rivers,  so  that  he  would  be 
able  to  avoid  them.  With  a  twinkle  of  his 
keen  eye  he  answered,  "I  reckon  I  know 
where  the  snags  ain't,  and  that  is  where  I 
expect  to  do  my  sailing."  It  is  enough  for 
us  to  know  the  channel  and  hold  our  course 
there.  It  is  sufficient  to  walk  on  the  king's 
highway  and  be  ignorant  of  the  by-ways  on 
every  side.  The  true  spiritual  life  is  a  very 
simple  matter  and  there  is  infinite  comfort 
and  sufficient  help  for  the  wayfaring  man 
though  a  fool  to  walk  therein.  Have  we 
learned  the  secret,  and  step  by  step,  and  day 
by  day  are  we  hving  it  out  according  to  His 
own  simple  word,  "As  ye  have  received 
Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  in  Him"? 

'Tis  so  sweet  to  walk  with  Jesus, 
Step  by  step  and  day  by  day; 

Stepping  in  His  very  footprints, 
Walking  with  Him  all  the  way. 


Seventh  Day 

THE    CHRIST    LIFE 

"I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."     Gal. 
ii :  20. 

I^=^HE  dream  of  ancient  mythology  and 
^-^  art  was  to  bring  the  gods  down  into 
fellowship  with  men.  They  only  succeeded 
in  degrading  their  ideals  of  deity  by  the 
weakness  of  human  passion.  The  gospel 
alone  has  given  this  stupendous  revelation 
and  transformation.  Two  mysteries  are  in- 
volved. The  first  is  the  incarnation  of  God 
in  the  human  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
And  the  second  is  the  incarnation  of  Christ 
in  the  human  life  of  a  consecrated  Christian. 
The  apostle  has  expressed  this  double  mys- 
tery in  a  fine  passage  in  Colossians.  In  the 
old  version  it  reads,  "In  Him  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  and  ye  are 
complete  in  Him."  This  might  be  para- 
phrased with  perfect  truthfulness,  God  fills 


30  Life  More  Abundantly 

Jesus  Christ,  and  Jesus  Christ  fills  me.  The 
word  'complete'  in  this  passage  literally 
means  to  'fill  full.' 

This  doctrine  of  the  indwelling  Christ  is 
peculiarly  Pauline.  The  Lord  Jesus  had  an- 
ticipated it  in  the  Gospel  of  John  when  He 
spake  of  the  branches  and  the  vine  and 
summed  up  our  spiritual  life  in  the  striking 
words,  "Abide  in  Me  and  I  in  you  *  *  * 
for  apart  from  Me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  But 
it  was  reserved  especially  for  Paul,  above 
all  the  later  writers  of  the  New  Testament, 
to  realize  and  reveal  this  glorious  mystery. 
It  was  the  secret  of  his  own  life.  The  first 
chapter  of  that  marvelous  life  is  described 
by  him  in  these  words,  "It  pleased  God 
to  reveal  His  Son  in  me."  From  that  time 
he  lived  a  charmed  life.  He  was  possessed 
and  controlled  by  a  power  that  transcended 
all  his  mere  human  possibilities  of  character 
and  action.  It  was  another  hfe,  an  added 
life,  an  overmastering  and  all  sufficient 
life,  "the  life  also  of  Jesus."  He  was  en- 
abled to  overcome  sin  and  temptation  and 
to  live  out  His  Christian  life  and  accomplish 
his  marvelous  work  not  through  his  ov/n 
personal  capabilities  merely  but  through  a 


The  Christ  Life  31 

union  with  the  Lord  Jesus  so  intimate  and 
complete  that  all  the  strength  and  purity 
and  love  of  the  Master's  being  absolutely- 
possessed  him,  and  so  identified  him  with 
Christ  that  what  Christ  thought  and  felt 
and  did,  he  also  thought  and  felt  and  did, 
and  he  could  literally  say  "I  live,  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me.' 

This  became  to  him  the  passionate  ambi- 
tion of  his  ministry,  the  great  open  secret 
which  he  had  been  commissioned  to  make 
known  to  all  the  world.  He  speaks  of  it  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Colossians  as  the  secret 
which  had  been  hid  from  ages  and  genera- 
tions, but  now  was  made  known  to  him  and 
committed  to  him  to' make  known  to  all 
men  and  that  secret  he  declares  is  "Christ 
in  you,  the  hope  of  glory." 

The  Christ  life !  Can  we  realize  all  that 
it  means !  It  stands  at  once  for  the  highest 
level  of  holy  aspiration  and  the  lowest  reach 
of  divine  grace.  It  ofifers  us  something  in- 
finitely higher  than  mere  human  perfection, 
for  it  is  nothing  less  than  the  holiness  of 
God  divinely  imparted  to  us  through  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  at  the  same  time 
it  is  not  an  attainment  slowly  achieved  by 


32  Life  More  Abundantly 

long  and  patient  endeavor.  It  is  not  a 
mountain  top  scaled  by  the  weary  feet  of 
human  effort.  It  is  a  great  obtainment,  a 
divine  gift,  a  life  brought  down  to  us  by  the 
living  One  Himself  and  offered  to  the  most 
helpless  struggling  soul  through  the  infinite 
condescension  and  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  so  that  each  of  us  can  say,  no  mat- 
ter how  often  we  have  failed  or  how  help- 
less we  may  feel 

"Wondrous  grace,  it  reaches  me." 
And  finally,  it  is  maintained  not  from  our 
strength  or  steadfastness  but  through  sim- 
ply abiding  in  Him,  and  moment  by  moment 
realizing  "Of  His  fulness  have  we  received, 
even  grace  for  grace." 


Eighth  Day 
CHRIST    FOR    THE    MIND 

"We  have  the  mind  of  Christ."     1  Cor.  ii:16. 

^T^E  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  limit 
^^  the  operation  of  the  Christian  religion 
to  what  we  call  the  spiritual  realm,  that  we 
overlook  the  provision  of  the  gospel  for  the 
quickening  of  our  intellectual  life.  The 
apostle  prays  for  the  Thessalonians  that 
their  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body  be  pre- 
served blameless  unto  the  coming  of  the 
Lord.  The  soul  evidently  represents  our 
intellectual  nature.  This  has  its  place  in  the 
divine  scheme  of  entire  sanctification.  In 
another  place  the  apostle  speaks  of  the  power 
of  grace  "casting  down  imaginations,  and 
bringing  every  thought  into  subjection  to 
the  obedience  of  Christ."  In  our  text  we 
are  said  to  have  the  mind  of  Christ.  This 
is  the  climax  of  a  long  argument  in  the 
course  of  which  the  writer  has  been  aiming 
to  show  that  the  mere  psychical  faculties  of 


34  Life  More  Abundantly 

the  human  understanding  are  insufficient  to 
apprehend  spiritual  truth  and  that  we  need 
a  divine  and  spiritual  touch  in  our  under- 
standing to  enable  us  to  "know  the  things 
that  are  freely  given  us  of  God."  This  he 
finally  expresses  by  the  striking  phrase,  "We 
have  the  mind  of  Christ." 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  His  incarnate 
life  was  a  perfect  man  wth  a  "true  body" 
and  "a  reasonable  soul,"  and  if  His  inner 
life  was  normal  it  involved  the  possession 
of  a  spiritual  nature  and  a  soul  or  mind. 
Now,  if  Christ  is  our  living  Head  and  im- 
parts to  us  His  complete  life,  it  is  reasonable 
to  assume  that  He  becomes  to  as  the  Source 
not  only  of  spiritual,  but  of  intellectual  life 
and  imparts  His  quickening  life  to  our  mind 
as  well  as  our  spirit. 

What  a  vast  world  of  possibilities  this 
opens  to  our  faith !  In  the  first  place  it 
means,  of  course,  the  cleansing  of  our  mind 
from  all  sinful  thoughts,  false  conceptions 
of  truth,  unholy  aflfections,  and  forbidden 
occupations  or  recreations.  The  mind  of 
Christ  will  not  waste  its  powers  on  worldly 
amusements  or  worthless  and  frivolous 
reading. 


Christ  for  the  Mind  35 

But  it  means  much  more  than  this  nega- 
tive side.  It  means  the  filHng  of  the  conse- 
crated mind  with  the  thoughts  of  God,  the 
affections  that  are  above,  and  the  occupa- 
tions that  uplift  us  and  bless  others.  Cer- 
tainly it  involves  the  quickening,  stimula- 
ting, and  strengthening  of  all  our  mental 
powers  and  a  divine  addition  to  all  the  forces 
and  resources  of  our  intellectual  life.  The 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  include  divine  wis- 
dom, knowledge,  and  a  quickened  memory. 
Away  back  in  the  Old  Testament  we  are 
told  of  the  men  that  designed  and  built  the 
Hebrew  tabernacle  having  been  divinely 
anointed  with  special  gifts  of  wisdom  re- 
quired for  the  cunning  workmanship  and 
the  expert  construction  of  that  simple  but 
magnificent  work  of  art.  The  women  of  Is- 
rael received  the  same  enduement  for  their 
exquisite  embroidery  employed  in  the  deco- 
ration of  the  sanctuary.  David  ascribes  his 
military  skill  and  strength  to  divine  en- 
abling. The  apostles  were  supernaturally 
quickened  for  their  marvelous  grasp  of 
truth  and  their  power  of  forceful  expression. 
While  the  grace  of  God  will  not  supersede 
all  proper  human  effort  and  culture  and  of- 


36  Life  More  Abundantly 

fers  no  premium  to  indolence,  yet  when  all 
our  powers  are  wholly  dedicated  to  the  serv- 
ice of  Christ  we  may  surely  expect  an  infi- 
nite, divine  addition  to  our  mere  human 
capabilities.  How  often  have  we  seen  some 
converted  drunkard,  whose  physical  powers 
and  mental  faculties  had  been  practically  de- 
stroyed by  a  life  of  dissipation,  not  only 
transformed  spiritually,  but  mentally  quick- 
ened and  seemingly  inspired  with  a  super- 
natural grasp  of  truth  and  power  of  expres- 
sion and  used  by  God  in  unspeakable  bless- 
ing for  the  uplifting  of  his  fellowmen.  This 
is  nothing  less  than  the  mind  of  Christ.  Have 
we  fully  realized  all  the  possibilities  of  our 
intellectual  life  under  the  leading  and  teach- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost? 

The  quickening  of  the  memory  is  dis- 
tinctly referred  to  in  the  promise  of  the 
Comforter.  "He  shall  bring  all  things  to 
your  remembrance  whatsoever  I  have  said 
unto  you." 

Perhaps  the  most  prolific  source  of  our 
worries  and  troubles  is  found  in  our  mental 
sphere.  The  regulation  of  our  thoughts  is 
the  special  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  is 
able  to  bring  every  thought  into  captivity  to 


Christ  for  the  Mind  37 

the  obedience  of  Christ,  The  peace  of  God 
which  passeth  all  understanding  not  only 
keeps  the  heart,  but  keeps  the  mind.  Under 
His  gracious  control  how 

Every  doubt  and   fear  would  vanish, 

Every  doubt  and  conflict  cease, 
Love  would  sway  a  boundless  empire 
O'er  a  realm  of  perfect  peace. 


Ninth  Day 

A   HIGHER   PHYSICAL   LIFE 

"The  life  also  of  Jesus  manifest  in  your  mortal 
flesh."     2  Cor.  iv:  ii. 

l^vHE  medical  science  and  the  medical 
^^  congresses  of  our  day  are  much  con- 
cerned about  the  physical  improvement  of 
the  race  and  some  of  their  theories  are  rad- 
ical and  astounding.  Eugenics  has  become 
a  science  and  the  propagation  of  a  perfect 
race  a  study  for  the  wisdom  of  the  world, 
and  it  is  even  proposed  that  national  legis- 
lation shall  so  control  the  propagation  of 
the  species  that  all  the  imperfect  product 
shall  be  rendered  impossible,  and  the  high- 
est types  of  humanity  alone  be  permitted 
to  survive. 

In  all  this  the  wisdom  of  the  world,  which 
is  foolishness  with  God,  has  constantly  lost 
sight  of  God's  supernatural  provision  for 
the  quickening  and  conserving  of  our  phys- 
ical life  and  strength.     As  long  ago  as  the 


A  Higher  Physical  Life  39 

age  of  Moses  God  revealed  to  man  a  divine 
law  of  healing  and  manifested  Himself  by 
a  new  name,  "I  am  Jehovah  Rophi,  the  God 
that  healeth  thee."  In  the  darkest  period 
of  Hebrew  history  He  gave  to  the  world  in 
the  story  of  Samson  the  divine  secret  of 
physical  strength,  the  Holy  Spirit  in  a  sep- 
arated and  consecrated  body.  Flashes  of 
this  truth  again  and  again  appear  through- 
out the  Old  Testament  in  the  Psalms  of 
David,  the  story  of  Hezekiah  and  the 
prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Malachi.  But  at 
length  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  appeared  as 
the  Great  Physician  and  not  only  minis- 
tered life  and  healing  to  the  bodies  of  men, 
but  left  a  law  of  healing  for  His  church  to 
the  end  of  time.  This  divine  secret  of  phys- 
ical life  is  again  and  again  unfolded  in  the 
New  Testament  epistles  and  it  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  few  simple  principles. 

1.  It  is  founded  upon  the  atonement  of 
Christ  for  spirit,  soul,  and  body. 

2.  It  is  claimed  through  the  name  of  Jesus 
by  virtue  of  His  merits. 

3.  It  is  by  faith,  not  works,  a  direct  act  of 
God  Himself  rather  than  the  result  of  hu- 
man skill  and  effort. 


40  Life  More  Abundantly 

4.  It  requires  that  the  subject  of  it  should 
be  rightly  adjusted  to  the  will  of  God,  sep- 
arated from  known  sin  and  wholly  yielded 
and  consecrated  to  the  will  and  service  of 
the  Lord. 

5.  It  is  imparted  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  "If 
the  Spirit  of  Him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from 
the  dead  dwelleth  in  you,  He  that  raised  up 
Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken  your 
mortal  body  by  His  Spirit  that  dwelleth  in 
you. 

6.  The  essence  and  nature  of  the  life 
which  the  Spirit  brings  into  our  physical 
being  is  nothing  less  than  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ  Himself.  Not  only  did  He  have  on 
earth  a  human  body  like  us,  but  He  has  that 
body  still.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  was 
physical  and  His  present  heavenly  body  is 
as  perfect  and  capable  of  imparting  life 
and  strength  to  us  as  His  glorified  Spirit. 
"We  are  members  of  His  body,"  and  the 
apostle  teaches  us  in  the  passage  selected 
as  our  text,  that  even  when  our  own  physical 
powers  seem  to  be  exhausted  "the  life  also 
of  Jesus"  may  be  manifest  in  our  mortal 
flesh. 

7.  This  supernatural  life  of  Christ  is  not 


A  Higher  Physical  Life  41 

merely  imparted  through  an  occasional  act 
of  miraculous  power,  but  maintained  by  the 
habit  of  abiding  fellowship  with  Him  and 
dependence  on  Him.  He  Himself  has  said, 
"As  the  living  Father  hath  sent  Me,  and  as  I 
live  by  the  Father,  even  so  he  that  eateth 
Me  shall  Hve  by  Me."  And  again,  in  the 
chapter  from  which  our  text  is  taken,  the 
apostle  declares,  "Though  our  outward  man 
perish  yet  our  inward  man  is  renewed  day 
by  day." 

The  apostle  John  in  his  third  epistle 
prays  for  his  well  beloved  friend  a  most 
significant  petition.  He  says,  "I  pray  above 
all  things  that  thou  mayest  prosper  and  be 
in  health,  even  as  thy  soul  prospereth." 
What  an  ideal  of  physical  soundness  and 
strength  keeping  pace  with  spiritual  health- 
fulness  !  Surely  this  is  in  the  highest  sense 
"a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body." 

Beloved  reader,  are  you  living  up  to  this 
high  ideal?  Are  you  having  God's  best  for 
your  entire  being,  spirit,  soul,  and  body? 


Tenth  Day 
THE   SPIRIT-FILLED  LIFE 

"Be  filled  with  the  Spirit."     Eph.  v :  i8. 

^^^HE  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  is  the  epis- 
^i^  tie  of  the  Spirit.  Its  opening  ascrip- 
tion is  a  doxology  to  God  who  has  "blessed 
us  with  all  the  blessings  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
heavenlies  in  Christ  Jesus." 

After  giving  us  in  the  first  chapter  and 
the  thirteenth  verse  a  reference  to  the  seal- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  initial  act  of 
a  consecrated  life,  he  goes  on  to  expand  the 
fulness  of  the  Spirit  through  the  succeeding 
chapters  in  a  number  of  striking  passages. 
At  length  in  the  fifth  chapter  he  sums  it  all 
up  in  the  injunction,  "Be  filled,"  or  "be  be- 
ing filled  with  the  Spirit."  We  are,  there- 
fore, reminded  that  the  resources  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  are  large  and  boundless,  and 
we  must  not  for  a  moment  conclude  because 


The  Spirit-filled  Life  43 

of  any  blessing  that  we  have  already  re- 
ceived that  we  have  exhausted  them. 

What  is  it  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit? 

I.  Surely,  it  means  to  have  all  the  opera- 
tions, graces,  and  gifts  of  the  Spirit.  That 
is,  to  have  Him  in  all  His  fulness.  He  is 
the  Spirit  of  light.  Has  He  enlightened 
our  darkness  and  become  our  spiritual  vis- 
ion, sight  as  well  as  light?  He  is  the  Spirit 
of  Life.  Has  He  quickened  our  dead  nature 
in  regeneration  and  given  us  His  life  more 
abundantly?  He  is  the  Spirit  of  holiness. 
Has  He  cleansed  our  hearts  and  imparted 
to  us  the  holiness  of  Christ?  He  is  the 
Spirit  of  truth.  Is  He  leading  us  into  all 
truth  ?  He  is  the  Spirit  of  love.  Has  He  set 
our  hearts  on  fire  and  translated  the  thir- 
teenth chapter  of  i  Corinthians  into  our 
life?  He  is  the  Spirit  of  peace  and  joy. 
Has  He  given  us  the  "peace  that  passeth 
all  understanding"  and  the  fulness  of  His 
joy?  He  is  the  Spirit  of  prayer.  Has  He 
not  only  taught  us  to  pray  for  ourselves, 
but  led  us  into  the  life  of  prayer  and  the 
ministry  of  prayer  for  others?  He  is  the 
Spirit  of  power.  Has  He  endued  us  with  di- 
vine energy  and  made  us  witnesses   unto 


44  Life  More  Abundantly 

Christ  to  our  fellow  men  in  saving  power? 
In  a  word,  have  we  received  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  all  the  variety  of  His  gifts  and  minis- 
tries? 

2.  It  means  that  not  only  should  we  have 
all  there  is  of  Him  but  He  should  have  all 
there  is  of  us.  Is  every  part  of  our  being 
filled  with  the  Spirit?  Have  we  received 
Him  into  our  spiritual  nature  to  lift  us  up 
into  the  life  of  God?  Have  we  received 
Him  into  our  intellectual  nature  to  cleanse, 
to  quicken,  and  to  use?  Have  we  received 
Him  into  our  physical  being  to  purify  every 
member,  to  consecrate  every  power,  to  heal 
and  to  employ  our  lips  and  hands  and  feet 
and  all  our  ransomed  powers  for  the  serv- 
ice and  glory  of  Christ?  This  is  to  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit. 

3.  And  it  means  to  be  filled  with  Him  in 
all  the  circumstances,  seasons,  moments, 
interests,  and  occupations  of  our  life.  It 
means  the  immanence  of  God  in  all  our  hu- 
man relationships  and  activities.  It  means 
to  have  Him  in  our  business,  in  our  trials, 
in  our  joys,  in  our  gain  and  loss,  in  our 
family  affairs,  in  the  whole  circumference 
of  life.    It  is  the  spiritual  application  of  the 


The  Spirit-filled  Life  45 

miracle  of  the  widow's  oil  poured  out  into 
all  the  vessels  of  our  diversified  human  life. 

There's  no  time  too  busy  for  His  leisure, 
There's  no  task  too  hard  for  Him  to  bear, 

There's  no  soul  too  lowly  for  His  notice, 
There's  no  need  too  trifling  for  His  care. 

There's  no  place  too  lonely  for  His  presence, 
There's  no  pain  His  bosom  cannot  feel, 

There's  no  sorrow  that  He  cannot  comfort. 
There's  no  sickness  that  He  cannot  heal. 

Have  we  been  thus  filled  with  the  Spirit? 
Better,  are  we  being  thus  continually  re- 
filled with  the  Holy  Ghost?  Are  we  living 
in  the  atmosphere  of  His  presence?  Is  His 
life  the  very  element  of  our  being?  "Be 
being  filled  with  the  Spirit." 


Eleventh  Day 
RESURRECTION    LIFE 

"That  I  may  know  Him  and  the  power  of  His 
resurrection  and  the  fellowship  of  His  sufiferings  be- 
ing being  made  conformable  unto  His  death,  if  by 
any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the  resurrection  from 
among  the  dead."    Phil,   iii :    lO,   ii. 

I^^HE  profoundest  principle  of  the  Chris- 
^^  tian  religion  is  death  and  resurrection. 
It  is  foreshadowed  in  the  most  important 
of  the  processes  of  nature,  the  planting  and 
germinating  of  the  seed,  the  succession  of 
Winter  and  Spring,  the  alternation  of  day 
and  night,  the  beautiful  parable  of  the  chrys- 
alis and  the  butterfly.  All  these  are  types 
of  the  sacred  mystery  of  the  cross  and  the 
resurrection  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  The  symbolic  rites  and  types  of  the 
old  dispensation,  the  Flood,  the  crossing  of 
the  Red  Sea  and  the  Jordan,  the  rite  of 
circumcision,  the  eighth  day  initiating  a  new 
week — all  these  pointed  forward  to  the  new 


Resurrection  Life  47 

creation  and  found  at  last  their  highest  ful- 
filment in  the  cross  and  the  open  tomb. 

The  testimony  of  the  New  Testament  wit- 
nesses always  centered  in  the  resurrection. 
"This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up  of  whom 
we  testify."  But  the  resurrection  is  not  an 
isolated  and  stupendous  fact  relating  alone 
to  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Firstborn  from  the 
dead,  but  is  repeated  and  realized  in  the  per- 
sonal experience  of  each  of  His  followers. 
While  this  is  yet  to  become  gloriously  real 
in  the  literal  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of 
the  saints,  it  has  a  deeply  spiritual  applica- 
tion in  the  history  of  every  true  believer. 
"1  have  been  crucified  with  Christ,  neverthe- 
less I  live,"  is  the  most  distinctive  watch- 
word of  the  divine  life.  Practical  Christian- 
ity is  not  an  ethical  reformation.  It  is  a 
divine  creation  and  a  new  creation.  It  is  a 
deathborn  life. 

But  the  practical  bearing  of  this  great 
mystery  depends  to  a  great  extent  upon  the 
measure  and  degree  in  which  we  fully  ap- 
prehend, realize  and  enter  into  it.  This  is 
the  significance  of  the  apostle's  prayer, 
"That  I  may  know  the  power  of  His  res- 
urrection." 


48  Life  More  Abundantly 

In  the  first  place  the  resurrection  of  Christ 

sets  us  free  from  guilt  and  seals  our  justifi- 
cation. The  Pauline  theory  of  salvation  is 
that  the  man  who  sinned  has  been  crucified 
with  Christ  and  is  reckoned  dead,  and  that 
the  real  man,  whom  God  recognizes  and 
whom  we  should  recognize  in  ourselves,  is 
the  life  that  was  born  out  of  Christ,  the  new 
life,  the  risen  life,  the  life  that  is  as  free 
from  liability  for  our  past  sins  as  Christ 
Himself.  "He  that  is  dead  is  justified  from 
sin." 

But  it  means  much  more  than  this.  Posi- 
tively it  brings  us  into  actual  identification 
with  the  vital  and  omnipotent  potency  of 
the  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Our  spiritual 
life  is  not  the  struggle  of  an  earnest  will  and 
an  upright  spirit  against  the  power  of  evil ; 
but  it  is  the  all  sufficient  strength  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Himself  living  in  us  and  over- 
coming the  forces  of  evil,  so  that  we  think 
and  feel  and  act  as  Christ  would  through 
the  power  of  the  Christ  that  lives  within  us. 

But  not  only  so,  it  means  a  supernatural 
vision  and  a  practical  realization  of  our  com- 
plete fellowship  with  our  risen  Lord  in  all 
that  His  resurrection  meant.     The  apostle 


Resurrection  Life  49 

Paul  gives  us  an  unveiling  of  this  vision  in 
Ephesians  i :  18-23.  It  is  a  dazzling  vision 
of  mountain  piled  upon  mountain,  and 
height  transcending  height,  revealing  all 
"the  riches  of  the  glory  of  His  inheritance 
in  the  saints,  and  the  exceeding  greatness 
of  His  power  to  usward  who  believe,  ac- 
cording to  the  working  of  His  mighty  power 
which  He  wrought  in  Christ  when  He  raised 
Him  from  the  dead,  and  set  Him  at  His  own 
right  hand  in  the  heavenlies,  far  above  all 
principality  and  power  and  might  and  do- 
minion and  every  name  that  is  named  not 
only  in  this  age  but  also  in  that  which  is  to 
come." 

All  this  has  been  achieved  by  Him  and  in 
all  this  He  is  our  Head  and  Forerunner,  and 
we  are  authorized  to  claim  the  "power  of  His 
resuirection"  and  the  fellowship  of  His  risen 
and  ascension  life.  This  was  the  intense 
outreaching  to  which  Paul  tries  to  give  ex- 
pression in  the  magnificent  chapter  from 
which  our  text  is  taken.  For  this  he  has 
been  apprehended  of  Christ  and  is  pressing 
out  to  meet  that  divine  attraction,  that  up- 
ward calling  which  is  seeking  to  apprehend 
him.     It  is  through  this  that  he  is  enabled 


50  Life  More  Abundantly 

to  stoop  to  the  lower  depths  of  the  "fellow- 
ship of  His  sufferings"  and  it  is  by  virtue  of 
this  that  He  expects  at  last  to  rise  to  the 
final  attainment  of  all  that  is  meant  by  the 
"resurrection  from  among  the  dead"  at  the 
glorious  appearing  of  the  Lord. 


Twelfth  Day 

TRANSFIGURED    LIVES 

"Be  not  conformed  to  this  world,  but  be  ye  trans- 
figured by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may 
prove  what  is  that  good,  and  acceptable  and  perfect 
will  of  God."     Rom.  xii :  2. 

J^HE  transfiguration  of  Christ  not  only 
V-/  made  His  face  to  shine  as  the  sun,  but 
His  raiment  also  to  be  "white  as  the  light." 
Mark  tells  us  that  His  raiment  became  shin- 
ing, "exceeding  white  as  snow,  so  as  no  ful- 
ler on  earth  can  white  them."  Luke  tells  us 
his  raiment  was  "white  and  glistening." 

Now  this  raiment  was  nothing  more  than 
the  coarse  and  ordinary  tunic  which  he 
wore  in  his  daily  life,  and  which  was  woven 
of  ordinary  materials  and  perhaps  much 
worn  and  threadbare.  And  yet  in  the  trans- 
figuration light  that  common  texture  became 
more  glorious  than  burnished  metal  or  re- 
splendent gold. 

Now  this  is  just  what  a  transfigured  life 


52  Life  More  Abundantly 

means.  It  is  not  something  transcendental 
or  unearthly ;  but  an  ordinary,  everyday  life 
touched  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  glory 
of  heaven,  and  shining  as  a  little  bit  of 
broken  glass  sometimes  shines  with  jewelled 
brightness  under  the  rays  of  the  sun. 

The  twelfth  chapter  of  Romans  is  a  pic- 
ture of  a  homely,  practical,  everyday  life. 
It  takes  us  into  the  church,  of  course,  and 
reminds  us  of  our  oneness  with  our  breth- 
ren and  of  our  various  gifts  and  ministries, 
and  bids  us  to  be  faithful  whether  in  teach- 
ing, giving,  administering  executive  depart- 
ments of  work,  dispensing  charity  to  the 
poor,  or  exhorting  saints  and  sinners.  Then 
it  introduces  us  to  the  home  and  social  circle 
and  talks  about  love  without  dissimulation, 
kindly  affection,  mutual  consideration,  hos- 
pitality, condescension  to  men  of  low  estate, 
adjustment  to  all  kinds  of  people,  sympathe- 
tic joy  with  those  that  are  happy,  sympa- 
thetic tears  with  those  that  weep,  and  all 
those  beautiful  graces  and  amenities  of  life 
which  count  so  largely  in  a  happy  home  and 
a  perfect  character. 

Next,  it  accompanies  us  to  the  street,  the 
store,  the  business  circle,  and  it  makes  us 


Transfigured  Lives  53 

diligent,  capable,  "providing  things  honest 
in  the  sight  of  all  men,"  "not  slothful  in  bus- 
iness," and  yet  at  the  same  time  devout  in 
the  midst  of  secular  surroundings,  still 
"serving  the  Lord." 

Then  it  finds  a  place  not  only  for  the  noon- 
day prayer  meeting  and  the  morning  and 
evening  altar,  but  for  the  life  of  prayer,  for 
the  atmosphere  of  devotion,  for  a  spirit  that 
is  ever  attuned  to  heavenly  things,  and  in 
communion  with  our  heavenly  Father,  for 
we  read  in  the  very  heart  of  this  picture, 
"continuing  instant  in  prayer." 

Nor  does  it  give  a  one-sided  picture  of 
easy  conditions,  and  a  life  wholly  free  from 
trial,  temptation,  and  even  persecution  and 
wrong.  For  again  we  read,  "Bless  them 
which  persecute  you,"  "recompense  to  no 
man  evil  for  evil,"  "if  it  be  possible  live 
peaceably  with  all  men,"  "avenge  not  your- 
selves," "if  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him ;  if 
he  thirst,  give  him  drink."  Surely,  this  is  a 
life  environed  with  trial  and  suffering,  and 
yet  all  these  conditions  are  recognized  as 
opportunities  for  victory  and  transfiguration. 
It  needs  the  night  to  bring  out  the  glory  of 
the  stars.    It  requires   the   storm   cloud   to 


54  Life  More  Abundantly 

make  it  possible  to  paint  the  rainbow.    And 
so 

"Sorrow  touched  by  God  grows  bright 
With  more  than  rapture's  ray." 

Beloved,  this  is  a  transfigured  life,  a  man 
walking  with  his  feet  on  earth,  but  his  head 
and  heart  amid  the  glory  of  the  skies,  a  life 
occupied  with  earthly  things,  but  in  a  heav- 
enly spirit  and  a  spiritual  way,  a  life  made 
up  of  days  divided,  as  Sir  William  Jones 
used  to  divide  his  day,  of  twenty-four  hours, 
"eight  for  labor,  eight  for  recreation  and 
food,  eight  for  sleep — but  all  for  heaven." 

The  glory  that  transfigures  such  a  life 
comes  from  above  and  from  within.  We  are 
transfigured  by  the  renewing  of  our  mind. 
It  is  the  temple  of  glass  devoted  to  the  sun 
in  the  worship  of  ancient  Egypt  in  which  the 
sun  has  free  access  to  every  chamber,  and 
sheds  his  own  glory  in  every  part. 

Finally,  there  is  a  suggestion  of  the  high- 
est possibilities  of  such  a  life  in  the  positive, 
comparative,  and  superlative  degrees  of  our 
beautiful  text,  "the  good,  the  acceptable," 
and,  highest  and  best,  the  "perfect  will  of 
God." 


Thirteenth  Day 

RADIANT    LIVES 

"They    looked    unto    Him    and    were    radiant." 
Psalm  xxxiv :  5. 

^^^HE  most  remarkable  discovery  of  recent 
^«^  scientific  research  is  radium.  The  most 
remarkable  thing  about  it  is  that  it  radiates 
or  gives  forth  its  light  and  power  with  al- 
most inexhaustible  energy.  A  few  grains 
would  be  sufficient  to  explode  the  planet.  A 
small  quantity,  and  there  is  but  a  small  quan- 
tity in  the  world,  would  be  equivalent  to  a 
million  and  a  half  tons  of  coal  and  would 
contain  sufficient  energy  to  carry  an  Atlan- 
tic steamer  for  a  whole  generation  to  and 
fro  on  her  regular  voyages.  It  would  take 
more  than  seventeen  centuries  for  a  grain  of 
radium  to  exhaust  itself  by  radiation.  One 
flash  of  radial  light  would  go  round  the 
globe  in  less  than  a  second. 
And  yet  this  remarkable  element  comes 


56  Life  More  Abundantly 

from  the  dark  mine  where  it  has  been  trod- 
den under  foot  of  men  and  is  scarcely  dis- 
tinguishable from  common  tar.  It  is  found 
in  a  substance  called  pitchblend,  strongly 
resembling  tar.  How  it  speaks  to  us  of  these 
lives  of  ours  lifted  from  obscurity,  despair, 
and  from  the  depths  of  sin  and  destined 
through  the  grace  of  God  to  shine  as  the 
stars  forever  and  ever. 

And  how  it  inspires  us,  like  radium,  to  let 
our  "light  so  shine  before  men  that  they 
may  see  our  good  works  and  glorify  our 
Father  in  heaven," 

We  are  told  that  radium  has  six  different 
colored  rays,  differentiated  in  the  solar  spec- 
trum and  numbered  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,  f,  in  the  sci- 
entific calalogs. 

The  first  radiant  ray  that  should  be  re- 
flected from  our  lives  is  the  light  of  truth. 
God  calls  us  to  be  living  epistles,  known  and 
read  of  all  men,  and  the  writing  should  be  a 
living  edition  of  His  own  Word.  Some  one 
has  said  that  we  are  either  Bibles  or  libels. 
Are  our  lives  revealing  Christ  and  His  gos- 
pel to  our  fellow  men  and,  as  the  apostle 
strongly  puts  it,  "adorning  the  doctrine  of 
God  our  Saviour  in  all  things." 


Radiant  Lives  57 

The  next  manifestation  of  our  light  should 
be  purity.  The  greatest  thing  in  every  true 
life  is  personal  character.  The  greatest 
thing  the  Lord  Jesus  did  was  not  to  teach 
but  to  be  the  truth  and  the  life.  His  moral 
victory  over  the  tempter  in  the  wilderness 
made  it  possible  for  Him  to  become  our 
Righteousness.  Are  we  living  the  Christ  we 
profess  and  the  truth  we  confess? 

But  our  lives  ought  to  be  not  only  right, 
but  attractive.  God  wants  us  to  show  the 
light  of  loveliness,  the  charm  of  Jesus,  the 
things  that  are  lovely  as  well  as  the  things 
that  are  pure.  Many  Christians  are  hke  a 
naked  clift,  strong  and  upright,  but  bare  and 
unattractive.  The  true  ideal  is  the  mountain 
adorned  with  verdure  and  flowers  and  foun- 
tains where  the  traveler  rests  and  the  chil- 
dren play.  The  Lord  Jesus  even  in  His  ear- 
liest childhood  had  favor  with  God  and  men. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  is  a  beautiful 
picture  of  the  beauty  of  holiness.  Without 
it  we  cannot  be  God's  best. 

The  light  of  patience  is  the  crowning  glory 
of  the  saint.  It  is  through  patience  that 
grace  has  its  perfect  work  and  leaves  the 
soul   perfect  and   entire,  wanting  nothing. 


58  Life  More  Abundantly 

This  is  the  light  that  shines  in  darkness 
and  irradiates  the  home  of  sorrow,  the  house 
of  mourning,  and  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death.    Let  your  light  so  shine. 

The  light  of  love  is  the  most  precious  of 
all  the  radiant  beams  of  holy  character.  It 
makes  the  homeliest  face  attractive  and  the 
humblest  home  a  paradise.  It  can  overcome 
evil  with  good,  transform  the  curse  into  a 
blessing,  and  conquer  all  our  enemies  by  kill- 
ing them  with  kindness.  Are  we  letting  the 
light  of  love  shine  on  the  little  world  around 
us,  the  dark  world  beneath  us,  and  the  lost 
world  beond  us? 

As  the  sunshine,  free  and  glad, 

Falls   where   gloom  and   squalor  pine, 

So  where  all  is  dark  and  sad. 

On  the  good  and  on  the  bad, 
Let  your  light   so   shine. 


Fourteenth   Day 

THE    VICTORIOUS    LIFE 

"Thanks  be  unto  God  which  always  causeth  us  to 
triumph  in   Christ."     2  Cor.  ii :  14. 

HAVE  we  fully  realized  the  sublime  ideal 
here  presented,  "always  to  triumph"? 
Is  it  indeed  possible  that  in  this  life  of  in- 
firmity, temptation,  and  unfavorable  envi- 
ronment the  soldier  of  the  Lord  may  always 
overcome? 

The  answer  will  not  be  so  hard  if  we  keep 
before  our  mind  continually  the  closing 
words  of  our  text,  "in  Christ."  It  is  "in 
Christ"  and  "in  Christ"  alone  that  we  may 
always  triumph. 

Another  reading-  of  the  passage  throws  a 
strong  light  upon  it,  "Thanks  be  unto  God 
who  always  leadeth  us  in  triumph."  He  is 
the  Leader,  the  Victor,  the  Captain  of  our 
salvation,  and  we  simply  enter  into  His  tri- 
umph. 


6o  Life  More  Abundantly 

This  thought  becomes  intensely  practical. 
Are  we  pressed  by  the  conflict  with  sin? 
Are  we  fighting  hard  against  the  evil  that 
insinuates  itself  from  within  and  seems  to 
be  part  of  our  own  nature  and  disposition? 
Mere  resistance,  however  sincere  and  stren- 
uous, will  not  suffice.  There  is  a  better  way. 
Christ  has  already  conquered  sin  and  it  is 
our  privilege  to  enter  into  His  victory.  We 
have  a  right  to  claim  that  by  our  union  with 
Him  we  are  dead  indeed  unto  sin  and  its 
authority  and  power  are  broken,  and  also 
that  we  are  risen  with  Him  to  vital  fellow- 
ship in  His  new  and  victorious  life.  As  we 
thus  identify  ourselves  with  Him  we  are 
able  through  His  indwelling  life  and  power 
to  throw  ofif  the  old  man  and  his  deeds,  to 
recognize  all  evil  as  extraneous  to  us,  and 
neither  to  fear  it  nor  obey  it,  and  to  appro- 
priate His  holiness,  His  love,  His  power.  His 
all-sufficiency,  and  go  forth  with  the  tri- 
umphant shout,  "Thanks  be  unto  God 
which  always  causeth  us  to  triumph  in 
Christ." 

Is  it  sorrow  that  overwhelms  us  from 
without  and  within  until  our  spirit  is  ready 
to  sink  in  utter  depression  and  discourage- 


The  Victorious  Life  6i 

ment?  Here  again  the  ethics  of  human  phi- 
losophy fail  and  the  most  stoical  indiiTerence 
and  fortitude  must  at  last  succumb.  ■  But 
again,  it  is  our  privilege  to  triumph  in  Christ. 
He  has  overcome  the  world ;  He  was  victori- 
ous over  sorrow  and  every  circumstance  and 
condition,  and  it  is  our  privilege  to  enter  into 
His  joy  and  draw  from  Him  a  consolation 
wholly  apart  from  conditions  and  surround- 
ings and  which  is  nothing  less  than  His  own 
joy  filling  and  overflowing  our  heart.  "These 
things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  that  My  joy 
might  remain  in  you  and  that  your  joy 
might  be  full."  There  is  a  peace  that  pass- 
eth  all  understanding,"  that  is,  which  has  no 
rational  explanation,  and  which  contradicts 
all  seeming  conditions.  There  is  a  joy 
which  "counts  it  all  joy"  when  it  feels  no 
joy  and  sees  no  light.  There  is  a  faith  which 
can  glory  even  in  tribulation,  and  rise  from 
the  deepest  abysses  of  trouble  to  the  sub- 
limest  heights  of  victory  and  praise.  The 
life  of  faith  is  a  continual  paradox  expressed 
in  such  terms  as  these,  "When  I  am  weak 
then  am  I  strong,"  "sorrowful,  yet  always 
rejoicing,"  "having  nothing  and  yet  possess- 
ing all  things." 


62  Life  More  Abundantly 

Perhaps  our  greatest  conflict  is  with  the 
forces  of  temptation.  People  who  deny  the 
existence  of  the  devil  would  soon  be  con- 
vinced if  they  really  made  an  honest  resist- 
ance to  his  power.  But  our  text  gives  us  the 
secret  of  victory  over  Satan.  It  is  not  our 
victory,  but  Christ's,  He  is  a  reckless  man 
that  defies  the  devil  or  attempts  to  meet  him 
in  his  own  strength.  But  when  we  meet  him 
in  Christ  he  is  already  a  conquered  foe,  and 
it  is  our  privilege  to  enter  into  the  victory 
of  the  Lord  and  meet  all  our  temptations 
with  the  prestige  of  assured  triumph  and  a 
shout  of  victory,  "Thanks  be  unto  God  that 
always  causeth  us  to  triumph." 


Fifteenth  Day 

MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS 

^y^E  have  spoken  of  victory,  but  this  is 
^^^  more  than  victory.  This  is  a  triumph 
so  complete  that  we  have  not  only  escaped 
defeat  and  destruction,  but  we  have  de- 
stroyed our  enemies  and  won  a  spoil  so  rich 
and  valuable  that  we  can  thank  God  that  the 
battle  ever  came. 

How  can  we  be  "more  than  conquerors"? 

In  the  first  place  we  can  get  out  of  the 
conflict  a  spiritual  discipline  that  will  greatly 
strengthen  our  faith  and  establish  our  spirit- 
ual character.  Temptation  is  necessary  to 
settle  and  confirm  us  in  the  spiritual  life.  It 
is  like  the  fire  which  burns  in  the  colors  of 
a  mineral  painting,  or  like  winds  that  cause 
the  mighty  cedars  of  the  mountain  to  strike 
their  roots  more  deeply  into  the  soil.  Our 
spiritual  conflicts  are  among  our  choicest 
blessings  and  our  great  adversary  is  used  to 
train  us  for  his  own  ultimate  defeat. 


64  Life  More  Abundantly 

Again,  temptation  is  permitted  to  come  to 
us  to  give  us  the  opportunity  of  weakening 
and  destroying  pur  spiritual  adversaries. 
There  is  a  remarkable  statement  in  the  book 
of  Joshua  about  the  Canaanites.  "It  was  of 
the  Lord  that  those  kings  should  come 
against  Israel,  to  the  end  that  they  might  be 
utterly  destroyed."  Had  they  remained  neu- 
tral or  passive,  they  might  later  have  become 
a  snare ;  but  their  defiance  led  to  their  de- 
struction and  saved  the  hosts  of  Joshua  from 
later  perils  and  conflicts.  So  God  allows 
things  that  are  lurking  in  our  nature  to  as- 
sert themselves  in  order  to  reveal  to  us  these 
hidden  sources  of  danger  and  bring  to  an 
issue  a  conflict  which  deepens  our  own  spir- 
itual life,  and  leads  to  the  uprooting  and  de- 
stroying of  hidden  sin.  Thus  God  will  bring 
to  light,  as  we  are  to  bear  it,  all  the  things  in 
our  spiritual  life  that  need  to  be  discovered 
and  destroyed,  and  we  shall  learn  to  thank 
Him  for  each  new  conflict  because  it  assures 
a  deeper  life  and  a  more  complete  deliver- 
ance from  all  the  power  of  evil. 

Temptation  brings  us  a  glorious  confirma- 
tion of  our  confidence  in  God  and  proves  the 
reality  of  His  promises  and  the  faithfulness 


More  Than  Conquerors  65 

of  His  love  and  grace.  Each  new  triumph 
reassures  us  for  all  the  conflicts  that  are  to 
come,  and  we  learn  to  realize  that  we  are 
following-  a  Captain  that  never  knew  defeat 
and  that  it  is  indeed  possible  always  to  tri- 
umph in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  ancient  Phrygians  had  a  legend  that 
every  time  they  conquered  an  enemy  the  vic- 
tor absorbed  the  physical  strength  of  his 
victim  and  added  so  much  more  to  his  own 
strength  and  valor.  So  temptation  victori- 
ously met  doubles  our  spiritual  strength  and 
equipment.  It  is  possible  thus  not  only  to 
defeat  our  enemy,  but  to  capture  him  and 
make  him  fight  in  our  own  ranks.  The 
prophet  Lsaiah  speaks  of  flying  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  Philistines.  These  Philistines 
were  their  deadl}^  foes,  but  the  figure  sug- 
gested that  they  would  be  enabled  not  only 
to  conquer  the  Philistines,  but  to  use  them 
to  carry  the  victors  on  their  shoulders  for 
further  triumphs.  Just  as  the  wise  sailor  can 
use  a  headwind  to  carry  him  forward  by  tack- 
ing and  taking  advantage  of  its  impelling 
force ;  so  it  is  possible  for  us  in  our  spiritual 
life  through  the  victorious  grace  of  God  to 
turn  to  account  the  things  that  seem  most 


66  Life  More  Abundantly 

unfriendly  and  unfavorable,  and  to  be  able 
continually  to  say,  The  things  that  were 
against  me  have  happened  "to  the  further- 
ance of  the  gospel." 

Finally,  the  conflict  will  bring  us  the  vic- 
tor's crown,  and  the  glorious  promise,  "To 
him  that  overcometh."  Shall  we  be  "more 
than  conquerors"? 


Sixteenth  Day 
GETTING  THE  BEST  OF  TROUBLE 

"That  the  trial  of  j'our  faith,  being  much  more 
precious  than  of  gold  which  perisheth,  though  it  be 
tried  with  fire,  might  be  found  unto  praise  and 
honor  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ." 
I   Peter  i :  7. 

J^HE  First  Epistle  of  Peter  is  a  special 
^-^  message  for  the  tried  ones  and  shows 
us  how  we  ma}^  be  'more  than  conquerors" 
over  sorrow. 

The  apostle  tells  us  some  very  comforting 
things  about  our  trials.  They  are  "for  a 
season,"  he  tells  us.  There  is  a  "need  be," 
which  we  shall  some  time  understand.  The 
trial  itself  is  "much  more  precious  than  of 
gold  which  perisheth  "  And  it  will  "be  found 
imto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the  ap- 
pearing of  Jesus  Christ." 

These  three  words  are  not  repetitious. 
"Praise"  expresses  the  thankfulness  with 
which  we  ourselves  will  look  back  on  all  the 
things  that  once  seemed  so  hard,  and  praise 


68  Life  More  Abundantly 

Him  for  the  inexorable  love  that  let  us  suffer 
to  gain  such  blessing.  The  'honor"  refers  to 
the  bearing  of  our  victorious  suffering  on  the 
glory  of  God.  It  reflects  honor  on  Christ. 
And  the  word  "glory"  looks  forward 
to  the  recompense  when  our  "light 
affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment," 
will  have  worked  out  for  us  yonder  "a.  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of 
glory."  The  only  way  we  can  win  the  crown 
is  by  suffering  and  sacrifice.  Some  day  our 
teardrops  will  be  transformed  to  jewels  of 
unfading  lustre. 

Later  in  the  epistle  he  adds  some  further 
considerations  to  encourage  us  in  this  suffer- 
ing life.  He  tells  us  (i  Peter  ii:i9)  that 
when  we  suffer  wrongfully  it  is  "thank- 
worthy" and  "acceptable  with  God."  The 
phrase  is  peculiar,  suggesting  the  idea  that 
God  Himself  will  express  to  us  His  own  spe- 
cial thanks  for  the  service  that  we  have  ren- 
dered Him  in  thus  witnessing  for  Him.  The 
phrase  is  twice  repeated.  What  an  honor  it 
will  be  some  day  for  the  King  to  step  from 
the  throne  and  publicly  thank  us  for  what 
we  once  endured  for  Him ! 

Then  in  the  twenty-first  verse  of  the  same 


Getting  the  Best  of  Trouble  69 

chapter  we  are  reminded  that  this  is  our 
calling.  "Hereunto  were  ye  called,  because 
Christ  also  suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  ex- 
ample that  we  should  follow  His  steps." 
Trial  is  our  business,  suffering  our  occupa- 
tion. Suppose  a  soldier  were  to  complain  to 
his  captain  that  the  enemy  had  been  firing  on 
him,  and  that  he  did  not  enlist  for  any  such 
purpose  and  was  unwilling  to  submit  to  that 
kind  of  treatment.  We  can  imagine  his  com- 
mander saying,  "My  boy,  the  business  of  a 
soldier  is  to  be  fired  at."  Shall  we  cease  to 
complain  about  the  wrongs  of  men  or  mur- 
mur against  the  chastenings  of  our  Father 
and  say,  "The  cup  which  My  Father  hath 
given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?" 

Finally,  the  supreme  encouragement  to 
victorious  suffering  is  that  it  means  partner- 
ship with  Christ.  "Rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye 
are  partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings,  that 
when  His  glory  shall  be  revealed  ye  may  be 
glad  also  with  exceeding  joy."  Every  loyal 
Christian  heart  must  long  to  be  like  unto 
Him  in  all  things.  Thank  God  the  fellow- 
ship is  double.  "If  we  suffer  with  Him  we 
shall  also  reign  with  Him,"  if  we  share  the 
cross  we  shall  wear  the  crown. 


Seventeenth  Day 

GETTING  THE  BEST  OF 
MISFORTUNE 

"And  his  mother  called  his  name  Jabez,  saying, 
because  I  bare  him  with  sorrow.  .  .  .  And  God 
granted  him  that  which  he  requested."  i  Chron. 
iv :  9,  10. 

l^=vHIS  is  the  pathetic  picture  of  a  life 
^i^  which  in  its  beginning  at  least  was  typ- 
ical of  many  an  earthly  story.  "Little  Mis- 
ery" we  might  appropriately  call  this  child  of 
misfortune  who  cam.e  into  the  world  under 
a  cloud  of  pessimism.  His  very  mother  re- 
fused to  welcome  him.  Perhaps  there  were 
conditions  in  her  motherhood  that  made  his 
advent  only  a  suggestion  of  shame  and  sor- 
row. His  childhood  was  overshadowed  with 
gloom,  perhaps  neglect  and  every  discour- 
agement. At  last  there  was  nothing  left  for 
him  but  God,  and  we  read  that  "Jabez  called 
on  the  God  of  Israel,  saying.  Oh,  that  Thou 
woulst  bless  me  indeed,  and  enlarge  my 
coast,  and  that  Thine  hand  might  be  with 


Getting  the  Best  of  Misfortune        71 

me,  and  that  Thou  wouldst  keep  me  from 
evil,  that  it  may  not  grieve  me."  And  the 
next  sentence  is  a  glorious  burst  of  sun- 
shine that  obliterates  all  Tiis  clouds  and 
makes  the  life  of  Jabez  a  romance  of  an- 
swered prayer  and  sorrow  transformed  to 
blessing.  "And  God  granted  him  that  which 
he  requested." 

Yes,  it  is  possible  to  be  "more  than  con- 
querors" over  the  most  adverse  circum- 
stances and  the  most  forbidding  beginnings. 
The  Valley  of  Achor  has  often  become  a 
Door  of  Hope  and  the  thorn  been  changed 
to  the  myrtle  and  the  fir  tree.  The  secret 
of  it  all  is  the  touch  of  God  in  answer  to  the 
prayer  of  emergency  and  faith. 

Jabez'  prayer  began  in  the  right  place. 
"Oh  that  Thou  wouldst  bless  me  indeed."  He 
did  not  ask  first  that  circumstances  might 
be  changed,  but  that  he  might  be  changed 
and  adjusted  to  God  and  circumstances.  If 
there  is  anything  the  matter  with  our  lives 
it  is  usually  true  that  most  of  the  matter  is 
with  ourselves.  A  heart  right  with  God  and 
filled  with  the  life  and  joy  of  Christ  oould  not 
be  unhappy  even  in  the  depths  of  hell.  Let 
us,  therefore,  first  begin  at  home. 


^2.  Life  More  Abundantly 

Then  Jabez  caught  a  larger  vision  and 
prayed  that  God  would  enlarge  his  coast. 
His  surroundings  were  uncongenial,  but 
there  was  room  farther  on  and  he  asked 
God  to  give  him  a  bigger  world.  The  rea- 
son many  people  are  so  unhappy  is  because 
they  live  in  so  small  a  circle.  Get  out  of 
your  little  sphere  of  selfishness  and  into  the 
great  world  where  God  dwells,  and  where 
other  hearts  touch  you  and  call  you  to  help 
their  sorrows,  and  you  can  have  as  big  a 
heritage  as  you  will  make. 

Next  Jabez  asked  "That  Thine  hand  might 
be  with  me."  He  wanted  a  life  with  God, 
divinely  led,  divinely  sufficient.  With  such 
an  equipment  what  could  be  against  him? 

Then  his  last  petition  is  finely  significant, 
"Keep  me  from  evil  that  it  might  not 
grieve  me."  He  did  not  ask  that  there  might 
be  no  clouds  in  his  sky  nor  thorns  in  his 
path ;  but  that  he  might  be  impervious  to 
their  sting  and  proof  against  their  power  to 
harm.  God's  grace  can  take  the  evil  out  of 
everything  so  that  sorrow  will  lose  its  bit- 
terness, hate  its  power  to  harm  us  and  death 
its  sting. 

Shall  we  then  look  at  the  hard  places  in 


Getting  the  Best  of  Misfortune        73 

our  lives  not  as  discouragements,  but  as 
challenges,  things  that  God  has  permitted 
that  He  may  overcome  them,  and  that  we 
may  be  Hfted  through  the  conflict  to  a  high- 
er place  of  victorious  strength  and  blessing. 


Eighteenth  Day 

GETTING  THE    BEST    OF    CIRCUM- 
STANCES 

"I  have  learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am  there- 
with to  be  content.  I  know  both  how  to  be  abased, 
and  I  know  how  to  abound.  Everywhere  and  in 
all  things  I  am  instructed  both  to  be  full  and  to  be 
hungry,  both  to  abound  and  to  suffer  need.  I  can 
do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth 
me."     Phil,  iv:  ii,  13. 

XT  is  a  problem  in  mechanics  how  to  ad- 
just metal  structures  to  all  changes  oi 
temperature.  The  steel  girders  of  a  great 
bridge  expand  and  contract  several  inches, 
so  that  they  would  lose  their  bearings  on  the 
pillars  that  support  them  with  the  alternate 
changes  of  Summer  and  Winter.  The  engi- 
neers have  adjusted  a  simple  scheme  by 
which  the  sections  of  these  girders  slip  past 
each  other  and  adjust  themselves  to  the 
changing  temperature. 

Human  nature  has  never  been  able  to  dis- 
cover any  ethical  principle  sufficiently  uni- 


Getting  the  Best  of  Circumstances      75 

versal  and  strong  to  enable  man's  temper  to 
adjust  itself  to  the  vicissitudes  of  life.  The 
glory  of  the  grace  of  God  is  that  it  raises  us 
above  circumstances  and  conditions  and  en- 
ables us  to  say  with  the  apostle,  "I  have 
learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am  therewith 
to  be  content." 

The  word  "content"  here  is  a  peculiar 
expression,  signifying  the  containing  of  his 
resources  within  his  own  soul  so  that  he  is 
not  dependent  on  outside  conditions  for  his 
happiness.  His  heaven  is  in  his  heart  and 
not  in  his  money  or  his  friends. 

The  apostle  was  a  distinguished  example 
of  perfect  adjustment.  He  tells  us  that  God 
made  him  a  spectacle  and  gazing  stock  to 
both  worlds.  He  seems  to  have  lived  his 
life  in  order  to  show  how  perfectly  the  grace 
of  God  could  be  sufficient  for  a  man  under 
all  the  varying  conditions  of  life.  Often  he 
was  abased,  hungry,  and  apparently  over- 
whelmed, but  always  without  discourage- 
ment. At  other  times  he  was  called  to 
abound  and  his  cup  was  running  over.  But 
again  it  was  without  elation  or  selfishness. 
It  was  the  testimony  of  one  of  the  saints  of 
God  and  it  is  indeed    a    glorious    pattern. 


'](i  Life  More  Abundantly 

"Once  I  had  every  earthly  good,  but  God 
taught  me  to  have  God  in  everything.  Now 
I  have  no  earthly  goods  but  still  God  teaches 
me  to  have  everything  in  God." 

Not  suddenly  or  easily  did  the  apostle 
reach  this  victorious  place.  "I  have  learned," 
he  said,  "I  have  been  instructed,"  or,  as  the 
Revised  Version  expresses  it,  "I  have 
learned  the  secret." 

And  that  secret  was,  "I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  that  strengtheneth  me."  The 
indwelling  Christ,  Himself  the  source  of  all 
content  and  happiness,  will  make  us  equal 
to  all  the  changes  of  life. 

But  even  this  must  be  slowly  and  care- 
fully practiced  and  the  Holy  Spirit  instructs 
us  patiently  in  the  art  of  triumphing  over 
circumstances,  glorying  in  tribulation,  and 
always  rejoicing  in  God.  Let  us  be  willing 
to  go  with  Him  through  the  school  of  trial 
and  thus  learn  to  be  "More  than  con- 
querors." 


Nineteenth  Day 
GETTING  THE   BEST   OF   PEOPLE 

"Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  through  the  will 
of  God,  and  Sosthenes,  the  brother."     i   Cor.  i :  i. 

HMO'NG  the  most  trying  difficulties  and 
conflicts  of  many  of  our  lives  is  the 
question  of  getting  on  with  people.  The 
Lord  has  many  peculiar  people,  and  some 
of  us  think  that  we  have  more  than  our 
share  of  them  in  our  set.  There  is  noth- 
ing that  more  closely  tests  Christian  love 
than  the  unreasonableness,  unkindness  and 
often  injustice  of  our  fellow  men,  and  some- 
times of  our  fellow  Christians.  But  the  re- 
sources of  grace  are  eqtial  to  all  these  tests 
and  the  love  of  Christ  is  able  to  triumph 
over  people  as  well  as  over  Satan  and  sin. 
The  name  of  Sosthenes  in  our  text  sug- 
gests a  little  romance  in  the  life  of  the  apos- 
tle Paul.  We  have  to  read  between  the  lines 
to  trace  the  story,  but  it  is  worth  all  our 


78  Life  More  Abundantly 

pains.  In  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Acts 
we  read  of  an  attack  that  was  made  upon 
the  apostle  by  the  persecuting  Jews  at  Cor- 
inth under  the  leadership  of  Sosthenes,  the 
chief  ruler  of  the  synagogue.  This  man  and 
his  followers  appear  to  have  been  the  more 
violent  because  the  previous  ruler  of  the 
synagogue,  Crispus,  had  been  converted 
through  the  preaching  of  Paul,  and  "be- 
lieved on  the  Lord  with  all  his  house,  so  that 
many  of  the  Corinthians  hearing  believed, 
and  were  baptized."  Led  by  Sosthenes,  a 
Jewish  mob  made  insurrection  against  Paul 
and  dragged  him  to  the  judgment  seat  of 
Galleo,  who  had  just  arrived  as  the  new 
deputy  of  Achia.  Paul  had  just  received  a 
glorious  promise  of  protection  from  the 
Lord,  "Be  not  afraid,  but  speak  and  hold 
not  thy  peace,  for  I  am  with  thee.  And  no 
man  shall  set  on  thee  to  hurt  thee,  for  I 
have  much  people  in  this  city." 

This  was  signally  fulfilled  on  the  present 
occasion,  for  Galleo  refused  to  entertain  the 
charges  of  the  Jews,  or  even  permit  Paul  to 
say  a  word  in  his  own  defense.  But  he  drove 
Sosthenes  and  his  followers  from  his  judg- 
ment seat.     Immediately  the   mob,  always 


Getting  the  Best  of  People  79 

on  Sosthenes  and  beat  him  in  the  presence 
of  the  magistrate.  Thus  Paul  was  glorious- 
ly vindicated  and  God's  promise  fulfilled. 
The  narrative  in  Acts  stops  here.  But  five 
years  later  we  find  Paul  writing  to  the 
church  in  Corinth  that  had  been  through  all 
this  experience,  and  remembered  every  cir- 
cumstance, and  uniting  with  him  in  his 
greetings  to  them  "Sosthenes,  the  brother." 
The  definite  article  here  seems  to  point  to 
Sosthenes  as  a  marked  character  that  every- 
body knew.  How  natural  it  is  to  believe 
that  he  was  the  very  man  that  had  once 
attacked  Paul,  but  is  now  united  with  him  in 
service  and  sending  his  greetings  to  his  old 
friends  in  Corinth.  Would  it  be  venturing 
too  far  on  the  wings  of  modest  imagination 
to  assume  that  after  Sosthenes  received  his 
merciless  beating  that  day  in  Corinth,  Paul, 
who  had  just  been  vindicated,  stepped  in  and 
interceded  for  him  and  took  him  under  his 
protection  and  through  the  grace  of  God  and 
the  love  of  the  apostle,  this  bitter  enemy  was 
changed  to  a  devoted  friend  and  became  af- 
terwards the  fellow  laborer  with  the  man  he 
had  once  tried  to  destroy?  Certainly  this 
would  be  just  like  the  grace  of  God  and  we 


8o  Life  More  Abundantly 

can  imagine  no  other  explanation  fitting  in 
the  circumstances  already  stated  in  the  nar- 
rative. 

This  is  the  love  that  makes  us  more  than 
conquerors.  We  can  so  subdue  our  enemies 
as  to  destroy  them.  A  good  Quaker  once 
said  that  he  killed  all  his  enemies  by  lov- 
ing them  to  death.  And  many  of  us  have 
heard  the  story  of  the  Quaker  farmer  who 
led  back  his  neighbor's  cows  after  they  had 
destroyed  his  garden,  saying,  "Friend,  I 
have  brought  thee  back  thy  cows  after  they 
have  eaten  up  my  corn,  and  I  want  to  tell 
thee  that  if  I  ever  catch  them  in  my  field 
again  I  will" — at  this  point  the  angry  owner 
of  the  cows  interrupted  him  with,  "You  will, 
will  you."  "Yes,"  continued  the  Quaker,  "if 
I  ever  catch  them  there  again  I  will  just 
bring  them  back  to  thee."  Needless  to  say 
the  feud  was  over  and  the  cornfield  was  safe 
for  the  future. 


Twentieth  Day 

TURNING  EVERYTHING  TO 
ACCOUNT  FOR  GOD 

"It  shall  turn  to  you  for  a  testimony."    Luke  xxi : 
13- 

^^=^HE  Lord  had  been  telling  His  disciples 
^^  of  the  persecutions  and  trials  that 
would  come  to  them  in  His  service.  They 
were  to  be  brought  before  kings  and  rulers 
for  His  name's  sake.  To  most  of  us  such  a 
situation  would  seem  to  be  a  great  calamity, 
and  we  would  be  tempted  to  be  chiefly  con- 
cerned how  to  get  out  of  our  trouble.  But 
He  tells  them  to  take  no  thought  about  this 
and  to  leave  all  matters  regarding  their  de- 
fense to  His  protection,  and  to  regard  the 
situation  wholly  as  an  opportunity  for  serv- 
ice and  testimony  to  the  gospel.  "It  shall 
turn  to  you  for  a  testimony." 

So  we  find  the    apostles    in    the  opening 
chapters  of  the  Acts  in  precisely  this  situa- 


§2  Life  More  Abundantly 

tion.  They  are  summoned  before  the  Coun- 
cil and  asked  to  explain  their  daring  minis- 
try. Immediately  we  find  Peter  and  John 
ignoring  all  questions  of  their  own  safety 
and  replying,  "Whether  it  be  right  in  the 
sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than 
unto  God,  judge  ye,  for  we  cannot  but  speak 
the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard." 
Paul  obtained  many  of  his  best  opportuni- 
ties of  preaching  the  gospel  through  being 
arrested  and  brought  before  councils  and 
kings.  Standing  before  a  howling  mob  in 
Jerusalem  or  in  the  presence  of  Felix,  Fes- 
tus  and  Agrippa  his  one  concern  was  to  be 
true  to  his  testimony.  On  the  tossing  ves- 
sel in  the  Adriatic  amid  the  wild  fury  of  the 
euroclydon  we  find  him  unconcerned  about 
his  danger  and  thinking  only  of  the  crew  and 
speaking  the  message  of  encouragement  to 
them.  In  the  last  chapter  of  2  Timothy  we 
have  a  splendid  picture  of  his  audience  with 
Nero.  Brought  before  the  powerful  and 
cruel  emperor  he  might  almost  have  been 
pardoned  for  some  timidity  and  anxiety,  for 
the  lions  of  the  coliseum  were  waiting  to 
devour  him  if  his  sentence  had  been  adverse. 
But  he  forgets  all  about  these  personal  con- 


Turning  Everything  to  Account  for  God  83 

siderations,  and  his  own  concern  is  to  make 
the  most  of  this  great  opportunity,  which 
may  never  come  to  him  again,  of  preaching 
the  gospel  to  bloody  Nero  and  his  courtiers. 
Listen  to  his  own  account  of  the  incident! 
"At  my  first  answer  all  men  forsook  me. 
Notwithstanding  the  Lord  stood  with  me 
and  strengthened  me,  that  by  me  the  preach- 
ing might  be  fully  known,  and  that  all  the 
Gentiles  might  hear."  And  then  incidental- 
ly he  adds,  as  of  less  importance,  "And  I 
was  delivered  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  lion." 
His  business  was  to  make  the  preaching  ful- 
ly known,  and  have  this  turn  to  him  for  a 
testimony.  It  was  his  Master's  business  to 
deliver  him  from  the  mouth  of  the  lion. 

This  is  the  way  to  be  more  than  conquer- 
ors amid  all  adverse  conditions  and  trying 
circumstances.  Let  us  forget  ourselves  and 
look  upon  the  occasion  as  an  opportunity  for 
service  and  testimony.  John  Vassar  used  to 
say  that  there  were  no  accidents  in  this  life, 
but  that  even  seeming  mistakes  happened 
that  he  might  tell  somebody  of  the  Saviour. 
On  one  occasion  he  knocked  at  a  door  and 
found  that  he  was  at  the  wrong  house.  As 
the  lady  opened  the  door  and  he  explained 


^4  Life  More  Abundantly 

his  mistake  he  courteously  apologized,  and 
then  added,  "Perhaps,  Madam,  there  was  no 
mistake.  It  may  be  the  Lord  permitted  me 
to  call  that  I  might  give  to  you  the  message 
that  was  intended  for  another.  May  I  come 
in  and  talk  with  you  for  a  few  minutes?" 
The  result  was  the  salvation  of  a  soul.  It 
"turned  to  him  for  a  testimony."  Is  our  life 
thus  witnessing  always  and  all  for  God? 


Twenty-first  Day 
THE    DOUBLE    PORTION 

"I  pray  thee,  let  a  double  portion  of  Thy  Spirit 
be  upon  me."    2  Kings  ii :  9. 

>T^E  are  hardly  justified  in  interpreting  this 
^^  prayer  in  the  light  of  our  modern  the- 
ology and  of  what  we  now  know  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Holy  Ghost.  All  this  was  as  yet 
unrevealed  to  Elisha.  We  must,  therefore, 
interpret  this  prayer  in  the  light  of  the  facts 
through  which  it  was  answered,  for  he  was 
told  that  his  petition  should  be  granted  upon 
certain  conditions  which  were  fulfilled.  We 
may  be  assured,  therefore,  that  the  double 
portion,  whatever  it  meant,  did  come  to  him. 

What  does  the  life  and  ministry  which  fol- 
lows teach  us  about  this  great  blessing  and 
in  what  sense  may  we  intelligently  repeat 
the  prayer  and  expect  its  fulfilment? 

In  the  first  place  the  life  which  followed 
was  a  normal  and  simple  one.    There  was  no 


86  Life  More  Abundantly 

strain  about  it  as  in  the  case  of  Elijah,  It 
was  a  life  among  the  people  filled  out  in  all 
the  relationships  of  life  and  all  the  environ- 
ment of  our  commonplace  experiences. 

But  in  the  next  place  interwoven  through 
all  these  experiences  was  a  golden  thread  of 
the  supernatural,  the  divine.  While  the 
things  were  not  in  themselves  extraordinary 
they  were  done  in  an  extraordinary  way. 
And  so  the  double  portion  of  the  Spirit 
brings  to  us  a  life  all  interpenetrated  with 
the  presence  and  the  mighty  working  of  the 
living  God. 

The  first  experience  that  met  Elisha  after 
his  blessing  was  an  impossible  difficulty  and 
an  impassable  barrier.  The  Jordan  crossed 
his  path  and  his  work  lay  beyond,  A  few 
hours  before  he  had  Elijah  to  bid  the  waters 
divide ;  but  now  he  faced  it  alone.  This  was 
his  first  test,  and  he  met  it  by  simple  faith 
and  by  counting  upon  the  blessing  which  he 
had  just  received,  and  showing  his  faith  by 
his  works.  He  did  not  ask  for  Elijah,  but 
he  called  upon  the  God  of  Elijah  and  the 
waters  divided,  and  the  sons  of  the  prophet 
knew  that  the  spirit  of  Elijah  did  rest  upon 
Elisha. 


The  Double  Portion  87 

His  next  experience  was  a  great  public 
emergency.  The  armies  of  his  country  and 
their  allies  were  perishing  from  water  famine 
in  the  mountains  of  Moab.  Again  he  claimed 
the  potency  of  the  double  portion  and  the 
answer  was,  "Ye  shall  not  see  wind,  neither 
shall  ye  see  rain,  yet  that  valley  shall  be 
filled  with  water,  and  this  is  but  a  light  thing 
in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.  He  will  deliver 
the  Moabites  into  your  hand." 

The  next  illustration  is  found  in  the  beau- 
tiful story  of  the  widow's  pot  of  oil.  It  is 
too  long  to  follow  in  detail,  but  the  lesson 
is  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  we  have  re- 
ceived but  failed  to  use,  can  be  poured  into 
every  vessel  of  need  in  our  life,  and  become 
as  real  as  our  difficulties  and  necessities. 

Later  we  see  Elisha's  blessing  operating 
in  the  healing  of  Naaman,  not  through  Eli- 
sha's touch,  but  Naaman's  own  faith,  and 
we  learn  that  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit 
means  the  quickening  of  our  bodies  accord- 
ing to  our  faith. 

Yet  again  we  find  the  prophet  in  imminent 
danger  and  surrounded  by  the  squadrons 
who  had  come  to  capture  him.  Elisha  has 
learned  the   confidence  which  banishes  all 


88  Life  More  Abundantly 

fear,  but  his  servant  was  in  dismay.  And  so 
the  prophet  asks  that  his  eyes  may  be 
opened,  and  lo,  he  sees  the  hosts  of  the  heav- 
enly cavalry  encamped  around  them  on 
every  side  and  arrayed  against  their  foes. 
So  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit  becomes  our 
resource  in  danger  and  our  sure  defence 
against  every  foe. 

How  beautiful  the  story  of  the  rescue  of 
the  borrowed  axe  in  the  little  student  band 
by  the  Jordan!  A  touch  of  faith  and  the 
lost  iron  rose  and  floated  on  the  surface  of 
the  water.  How  simply  and  sublimely  it 
reminds  us  of  that  supernatural  power  that 
can  lift  us  above  natural  and  spiritual  forces 
and  prove  that  our  divine  Leader  is  Head 
over  all  things  for  His  trusting  people ! 

And  so  the  story  moves  on  with  its  record 
of  divine  all-sufficiency,  and  yet  at  every 
point  it  touches  our  life  to-day  and  reminds 
us  that  the  same  God  is  able  to  make  all 
grace  abound  unto  us,  "so  that  we  always 
having  all  sufficiency  in  all  things  may 
abound  unto  every  good  work." 


Twenty-second  Day 
CALEB'S     INHERITANCE 

"If  so  be  the  Lord  will  be  with  me,  then  I  shall 
be  able  to  drive  them  out  as  the  Lord  saith."  Josh, 
xiv :  12. 

|^=\HIS  was  the  heroic  testimony  of  an 
^-^  aged  veteran  on  his  eighty-fifth  birth- 
day, when  ordinary  men  would  be  supposed 
to  have  long  ago  retired  from  active  service, 
and  to  be  waiting  for  their  translation.  But 
Caleb  was  only  jtist  beginning  the  most 
serious  business  of  life.  His  greatest  ambi- 
tion and  His  grandest  achievement  still  lay 
before  him,  and  he  asked  as  a  birthday  pres- 
ent the  opportunity  of  doing  the  hardest 
thing  that  any  of  his  people  had  ever  at- 
tempted. This  was  nothing  less  than  the 
capture  of  Hebron,  the  stronghold  of  the 
sons  of  Anak. 

How  it  is  fitted  to  inspire  us  with  some  of 
that  kind  of  faith  of  which  we  read  in  the 


90  Life  More  Abundantly 

eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews,  the  faith  that 
"subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness, 
obtained  promises,  out  of  weakness  was 
made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned 
to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens."  Is  there 
anyone  reading  these  lines  who  has  begun 
to  count  his  life  work  over  and  to  shirk  the 
hard  places  and  the  heavy  burdens  and  bat- 
tles of  life?  Think  of  Caleb  and  Hebron 
and  do  not  miss  life's  crowning  victories. 
The  best  is  yet  to  come  if  your  faith  will 
only  dare  to  claim  it. 

The  conquest  of  Hebron  meant  some- 
thing more  than  the  ordinary  achievements 
of  a  life  of  faith.  They  had  already  con- 
quered the  land  and  gained  the  common  in- 
heritance of  Israel.  Hebron  meant  an  ex- 
tra heritage,  one  of  the  special  prizes  in  the 
struggle  of  faith.  So  God  has  for  all  who 
are  willing  to  be  baptized  with  the  baptism 
of  sufifering  and  drink  of  the  cup  of  trial  a 
special  recompense  of  reward.  It  was 
Paul's  ambition  to  win  a  crown  and  to  ac- 
compHsh  a  service  that  others  had  failed 
to  do.  There  is  a  place  for  holy  ambition. 
The  later  chapters  of  the  book  of  Joshua  tell 
us  of    these    choice    possessions    awaiting 


Caleb's  Inheritance  91 

courageous  faith.  Caleb's  was  perhaps  the 
greatest  of  them  all. 

Again,  this  victorious  achievement  meant 
a  hard  fight  and  a  powerful  and  relentless 
foe.  It  was  the  very  citadel  of  the  Anakim, 
the  giant  rulers  of  Canaan.  These  men 
stood  for  the  strength  of  evil  in  the  human 
heart,  the  life  of  self  and  sin  in  all  its  rudi- 
ments and  ramifications.  No  great  prize  is 
won  without  opposition  and  difficulty.  The 
devil  does  not  take  much  trouble  with  ordi- 
nary people.  He  reserves  his  best  shots  for 
the  most  valuable  game.  We  read  that  as 
soon  as  David  was  crowned  king  of  Hebron, 
the  Philistines  came  up  to  seek  for  David. 
He  had  suddenly  become  an  object  of  in- 
terest to  them  because  he  had  become  a 
king.  And  so  when  we  are  pressing  on  for 
the  highest  things  we  shall  always  find  the 
principalities  and  powers  not  on  the  lower 
planes  of  life,  but  in  the  heavenly  places. 

The  story  is  told  about  a  regiment  that 
had  been  punished  for  an  ignominious  de- 
feat by  the  loss  of  their  colors.  They  were 
deeply  humiliated  and  eagerly  waited  the 
chance  to  retrieve  their  failure.  At  last  it 
came.    One  day  the  commander  called  them 


92  Life  More  Abundantly 

and  pointing  to  a  rugged  hill  bristling  with 
the  artillery  of  the  enemy,  he  said,  "Boys, 
there  are  your  colors.  Go  and  get  them."  It 
needed  no  second  word  to  start  that  resist- 
less charge.  And  they  came  back  blood- 
stained but  triumphant  with  their  flag 
wrested  from  the  grip  of  their  most  power- 
ful enemies.  Our  flags  of  honor  and  our 
crowns  of  glory  are  waiting  us  yonder  on 
many  a  height  of  difficulty  and  danger. 
Shall  we  be  found  in  the  ranks  of  Caleb  and 
on  the  heights  of  Hebron? 

A  deep  spiritual  suggestion  lies  back  of 
the  name  of  Hebron.  It  was  the  place  made 
sacred  by  the  abode  of  Abraham,  the  friend 
of  God,  and  the  name  means  in  Arabic,  the 
friend.  It  stands  for  the  victory  of  love  in 
our  spiritual  arena.  And  perhaps  there  is 
no  higher  or  harder  citadel  of  spiritual  con- 
flict and  aspiration.  The  severest  tests  of 
our  Christian  life  come  to  us  along  the  line 
of  love  that  suffers  long  and  still  is  kind,  and 
the  charity  that  beareth  all  things,  believ- 
eth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth 
all  things."  And  this  kind  of  love  is  not  won 
by  mere  endeavor.  It  is  not  the  result  of 
ethical  culture,    but    the    victory  of    faith. 


Caleb's  Inheritance  93 

What  an  insight  those  disciples  had  when 
after  Hstening  to  the  Lord's  high  standard 
of  the  love  He  expected  from  them  and  the 
forgiveness  that  could  reach  not  merely 
seven  times,  but  seventy  times  seven,  they 
looked  up  to  Him  in  conscious  helplessness, 
and  cried,  "Lord,  increase  our  faith."  Why 
did  they  not  say,  Lord,  increase  our  love? 
They  were  beginning  to  understand  the 
faith  that  works  by  love.  Beloved,  let  us 
follow  Caleb  and  win  our  Hebron. 


Twenty-third  Day 

TRUE  GREATNESS 

"Thou  art  a  great  people.  Thou  shalt  not  have 
one  lot  only  but  the  mountain  shall  be  thine,  for 
thou  shalt  drive  out  the  Canaanites  though  they 
have  iron  chariots,  and  though  they  be  strong." 
Josh,  xvii :  17,  18. 

l^=vHERE  is  a  fine  touch  of  humor,  as  well 
^^  as  truth,  in  the  dramatic  story  of  the 
meeting  between  the  sons  of  Joseph  and 
Joshua.  These  men  were  not  unlike  an- 
other company  of  sons  in  later  Hebrew  his- 
tory, the  sons  of  Zebedee,  who  came  with 
their  mother  to  Christ,  asking  for  the  choice 
seats  in  the  future  kingdom  and  who  got  an 
answer  not  unlike  the  one  that  Joshua  gave 
to  his  interviewers.  The  men  of  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh  came  to  Joshua  when  the 
tribes  were  receiving  their  inhertances  and 
asked  for  a  double  portion  and  a  choice  in- 
heritance because,  they  said,  "I  am  a  great 


True  Greatness  95 

people,  and  the  Lord  hath  blessed  me  hith- 
erto." Joshua  did  not  deny  their  self-con- 
fident claim.  He  quietly  answered  with  a 
fine  touch  of  sarcasm,  "If  thou  be  a  great 
people,  then  get  thee  up  to  the  wood  coun- 
try, and  cut  down  for  thyself  there,  in  the 
land  of  the  Perizzites  and  of  the  giants,  if 
Mount  Ephraim  be  too  narrow  for  thee." 

It  must  be  said  for  them  that  they  met 
the  challenge  bravely  and  won  the  prize  in 
the  face  of  overwhelming  odds.  These  were 
the  fastnesses  of  the  enemy.  They  had  iron 
chariots  and  were  strong.  But  the  men  of 
Epliraim  drove  them  out  and  they  won  their 
great  inheritance  and  became  the  most  pow- 
erful of  the  northern  tribes  in  all  the  coming 
centuries,  so  that  the  name  of  Ephraim  for 
a  while  was  actually  given  to  the  whole 
kingdom  of  the  ten  tribes. 

When  the  sons  of  Zebedee  came  to  Christ 
with  their  similar  ambition.  He  ;did  not 
frown  upon  their  lofty  aspirations  or  tell 
them  they  w^ere  too  ambitious.  He  simply 
reminded  them  that  these  prizes  were  not 
given  by  partiality  or  personal  preference, 
but  won  by  sacrifice  and  service.  "To  sit 
on  My  right  hand  and  on  My  left  hand  is 


96  Life  More  Abundantly 

not  mine  to  give  but  to  them  for  whom  it  is 
reserved  of  My  Father."  And  then  He  asks 
significantly,  "Can  ye  drink  of  My  cup  and 
be  baptized  v^ith  My  baptism?"  They  did 
not  shrink  from  the  heart-searching  test, 
and  we  believe  they  did  not  miss  the  costly 
prize. 

Beloved,  life  is  what  we  make  it.  Our 
crowns  or  chains  are  forged  in  the  work- 
shop of  life.  Our  future  harvest  is  the  out- 
growth of  our  earthly  sowing.  The  man  of 
time  is  the  immortal  of  eternity.  He  that  is 
unjust  shall  be  unjust  still;  he  that  is  right- 
eous shall  be  righteous  still ;  he  that  is  holy 
shall  be  holy  still.  The  story  is  perhaps  fa- 
miliar of  the  lady  who  dreamt  that  she  was 
in  heaven,  and  that  an  angel  was  showing 
her  the  city.  A  beautiful  mansion  was  point- 
ed out  and  she  eagerly  asked  the  name  of  the 
happy  owner.  "Oh,"  said  the  angel,  "it  be- 
longs to  a  man  from  your  town,  in  New 
York  state."  As  soon  as  she  heard  the  name, 
she  said,  "Why  that  is  our  gardener,  what 
could  he  ever  do  with  such  a  mansion?  He 
Hves  in  a  lodge  in  three  little  rooms.  He 
has  no  culture  and  spends  most  of  his  eve- 
ning   in    the    Salvation    Army    meetings." 


True  Greatness  97 

"Well,"  said  the  angel,  "I  do  not  understand 
these  things,  but  I  am  sure  the  Master 
knows  what  He  is  doing."  Then  they  came 
to  a  very  modest  little  dwelling,  and  with  a 
look  of  deference  the  angel  said,  "That  is 
the  home  that  is  being  prepared  for  you." 
"Oh,"  she  said,  "there  must  be  some  mis- 
take. That  would  suit  the  gardener  much 
better  and  his  must  be  intended  for  me." 
"No,"  said  the  angel,  "there  is  no  mistake, 
and  I  think  the  explanation  must  be  that 
the  Master  does  the  best  He  can  with  the 
materials  the  people  send  up  here."  Dear 
friend,  what  sort  of  materials  are  we  sending 
up  there? 

Here  again  the  test  of  greatness  and  the 
secret  of  reward  is  difficulty,  opposition, 
conflict,  sacrifice.  These  hills  were  crowned 
with  mighty  forests  that  had  to  be  cut  down 
and  defended  by  chariots  of  iron  that  had 
to  be  driven  out.  All  precious  things  are 
guarded  by  obstacles  and  adverse  condi- 
tions. Even  the  kernel  of  the  nut  is  hidden 
in  a  rugged  shell.  The  gem  is  buried  in  the 
rocks  and  mountains.  The  pearl  is  found  in 
ocean  depths  and  in  the  spiritual  world  the 
richest   prizes   must   be   wrested   from   the 


98  Life  More  Abundantly 

hardest  places.  The  great  apostle  Paul  would 
not  allow  a  single  self-denial  or  sacrifice  to 
be  abated  because  he  declared  that  there 
was  no  glory  in  merely  preaching  the  gos- 
pel. The  only  way  he  could  win  a  crown 
was  by  preaching  it  without  charge,  and 
bearing  a  double  share  of  sacrifice  and  hard- 
ship. We  do  not  need  to  look  for  these 
hard  places.  God  will  send  them  as  we  are 
able  to  bear  them,  and  if  our  reliance  is  upon 
him  we  can  say  with  Caleb  and  the  men  of 
Ephraim,  "If  so  be  the  Lord  will  be  with 
me,  then  I  shall  be  able  to  drive  them  out  as 
the  Lo-rd  said." 


Twenty-fourth  Day 

LAST    STRONGHOLDS 

"Nevertheless  David  took  the  stronghold  of  Zion." 
2  Samuel  v  :  7. 

aFTER  the  conquest  of  Canaan  by 
Joshua  and  all  the  victories  of  Saul  and 
David  there  had  still  remained  for  four  Jiun- 
dred  years  one  stronghold  in  the  hands  of 
the  Canaanites.  It  was  the  old  city  of  Jebus, 
afterwards  Jerusalem,  the  capital  of  the  Jeb- 
usites.  This  citadel  was  naturally  impreg- 
nable and  even  after  David's  coronation  re- 
fused to  yield  to  his  sway.  Indeed,  so  con- 
fident were  the  Jebusites  of  their  security  in 
their  natural  fortress  that  they  sent  a  chal- 
lenge to  David  telling  him  that  Jebus  was 
defended  by  a  lot  of  old  blind  cripples,  and 
that  he  would  have  to  drive  them  out  before 
he  could  capture  it.  The  challenge  was  an- 
swered by  Joab,  and  Jebus  was  captured  by 
him  and  for  his  brave  achievement  he  was 


loo  Life  More  Abundantly 

rewarded  with  the  post  of  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  armies  of  Israel.  Jebus  imme- 
diately became  the  castle  of  David  and  the 
citadel  of  Jerusalem.  That  which  had  been 
the  stronghold  of  the  enemy  up  to  the  very 
last  moment  was  henceforth  to  become  the 
seat  of  divine  dominion  not  only  in  the  his- 
tory of  Israel,  but  in  that  more  glorious  age 
when  Mount  Zion  shall  be  the  metropolis 
of  the  millennial  world.  What  a  splendid 
transformation ! 

What  a  suggestive  lesson  this  story  has 
for  spiritual  eyes  that  are  opened  to  see  our 
own  hearts,  our  failures  and  our  possibilities 
of  victory  and  attainment. 

In  the  first  place,  there  may  still  be  some- 
thing lurking  in  our  hearts  and  lives  which 
has  not  been  wholly  yielded  up  or  won  for 
Christ.  We  have  left  a  Jericho  behind  us,  or 
a  Jebus  in  the  very  center  of  our  spiritual 
world.  There  is  an  enemy  in  the  citadel.  We 
have  had  victory  over  all  our  old  habits  but 
one.  But  that  besetting  sin  still  lingers  and 
claims  the  right  to  be  tolerated  and  spared. 
Perhaps  it  is  some  infirmity  of  temper  that 
we  call  trifling,  some  pet  indulgence  that 
we  suffer  to  remain,  some  neglected  duty. 


Last  Strongholds  loi 

in  the  closet  or  the  family  altar,  some 
omission  in  our  Christian  service  for  others, 
some  old  wrong  that  has  never  been  righted, 
and  perhaps  forgotten,  or  some  failure  to 
enter  into  our  full  inheritance.  Perhaps  it  is 
a  physical  weakness  that  we  have  not 
claimed  the  power  to  overcome,  or  some  long 
forgotten  promise  or  vow  which  we  have  not 
yet  fulfilled.  Memory  and  conscience  if  we 
will  ask  the  Lord  to  quicken  them,  will  help 
us  to  locate  our  Jebus  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
will  convict  us  of  the  danger  and  the  sin  of 
allowing  the  flag  of  the  enemy  to  still  float 
even  in  a  single  neglected  corner  of  his  in- 
heritance. 

Satan  is  perfectly  willing  to  let  us  have 
everything  else  if  we  will  just  give  him 
standing  room  in  one  spot.  They  tell  of  a 
Hindu  prince  that  had  a  great  ambition  to 
own  a  splendid  estate.  But  one  poor  man 
held  the  title  to  an  obscure  corner  lot,  and 
although  offered  millions,  refused  to  sell  it. 
It  was  his  pride  and  the  prince's  constant 
chagrin  for  him  to  be  able  to  say,  "Remem- 
ber, your  excellency,  that  you  and  I  own  the 
town."  Satan  is  quite  satisfied  if  he  can  say 
that  to  our  blessed  Master. 


102  Life  More  Abundantly 

Sometimes  our  Jebus  is  held  like  the  Ca- 
naanite  stronghold  of  old  by  the  blind  and 
the  lame.  The  victory  would  not  be  hard  if 
we  but  dared  to  face  it  as  Joab  did.  It  is 
only  the  long  habits  of  tolerance,  indolence, 
and  unfaithfulness  that  have  entrenched  the 
foe.  Shall  we  arise  and  drive  him  out  and 
be  all  the  Lord's? 

The  inspiring  lesson  of  our  text  is  that 
the  things  that  have  been  most  hardly 
won  from  the  enemy  and  most  shamefully 
used  by  him  against  our  Lord  and  ourselves, 
are  the  things  that  God  wants  to  choose  and 
use  for  His  highest  glory.  It  was  this  Jebus 
that  became  the  metropolis  of  Israel  and  is 
yet  to  be  the  height  of  Zion  and  the  site  of 
the  palace  of  the  King.  And  so  it  is  the  things 
that  have  cost  us  most  that  God  wants  to  use 
for  noblest  service.  Shall  you  let  Him  have 
that  last  stronghold  of  your  life  of  self  and 
sin  and  through  it  magnify  His  grace  and 
glorify  His  name? 

And  so  we  have  seen  Him  in  our  day  take 
the  victim  of  a  life  of  dissipation  and  make 
him  the  herald  of  salvation  to  countless  fel- 
low sufferers  and  sinners.  So,  late  perhaps 
in   life,   some   lingering  infirmity  has  been 


Last  Strongholds  103 

overcome,  some  victory  won  over  natural  or 
spiritual  disability,  and  a  life  transformed 
and  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  has  become 
the  instrument  of  the  noblest  triumphs  of 
the  cross.  So  He  is  waiting,  dear  friend,  to 
take  the  hardest,  saddest  thing  in  your  de- 
feated life  and  make  your  Jebus  His  Jeru- 
salem. 


Twenty-fifth    Day 

EFFECTUAL    PRAYER 

"Thou  shouldest  have  smitten  five  or  six  times." 
2  Kings  xiii :  19. 

^=nHE  story  of  Elisha  closes  with  a  dra- 
^-^  matic  scene  by  his  deathbed.  Jehoash, 
the  king  of  Israel,  had  come  to  pay  his  last 
respects  to  the  venerable  prophet,  and  sa- 
luted him  with  the  cry,  "My  father,  my 
father,  the  chariot  of  Israel  and  the  horse- 
men thereof."  Then  Ehsha  answered  the 
wicked  but  kind-hearted  king  by  giving  him 
an  object  lesson  of  the  real  secret  which  had 
inspired  his  life  and  which  might  still  be 
the  resource  of  Jehoash  and  Israel.  He  bade 
him  bring  a  bow  and  arrow  and  shoot  the 
arrows  through  the  open  window  toward 
the  East  in  the  direction  of  Damascus  and 
Syria.  Meanwhile  the  prophet's  hands 
were   upon   the   hands   of   the   king   as   he 


Effectual  Prayer  105 

pulled  the  string  and  aimed  the  arrows.  Then 
he  exclaimed,  "the  arrow  of  the  Lord's  deliv- 
erance from  Syria."  This  was  a  vivid  expres- 
sion of  the  power  of  believing  prayer.  How 
vividly  the  pointed  arrow  suggests  the  defi- 
niteness  of  prayer !  The  promise  is  not  only 
"all  things,"  but  "Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask 
in  My  name  ye  shall  receive."  The  spring 
of  the  bow  represents  the  impulse  of  faith. 
And  the  hand  of  the  prophet  upon  that  of 
the  king  reminds  us  of  the  intercession  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  us  and  His  fellow- 
ship in  all  true  prayer. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  promised  blessing 
were  now  assured.  But,  no.  There  must 
next  come  the  test  and  proving  of  individ- 
ual faith.  The  first  act  was  not  wholly  due 
to  the  faith  of  the  king,  for  he  was  largely 
imder  the  influence  of  another  spirit.  Now 
he  must  show  his  own  faith  and  win  his  own 
victory.  God  tests  our  prayers  and  when 
they  come  through  the  crucible  there  often 
is  but  little  left  of  all  that  passed  our  impul- 
sive lips. 

So  the  prophet  commands,  "Take  the  ar- 
rows, and  smite  upon  the  ground."  "And 
he  smote  thrice  and  stayed."  "And  the  man 


io6  Life  More  Abundantly 

of  God  was  wroth  and  said,  Thou  shouldst 
have  smitten  five  or  six  times,  then  hadst 
thou  smitten  Syria  until  thou  hadst  con- 
sumed it,  whereas  now  thou  shalt  smite  Sy- 
ria but  thrice." 

How  striking  and  eloquent  the  message 
of  these  words!  Jehoash  thought  he  had 
done  very  well  when  he  duplicated  and  trip- 
licated what  to  him  was  certainly  an  extraor- 
dinary act  of  faith.  But  the  Lord  and  the 
prophet  were  bitterly  disappointed  because 
he  had  stopped  half  way.  He  got  some- 
thing. He  got  much.  He  got  exactly  what 
he  believed  for  in  the  final  test,  but  he  did 
not  get  all  that  the  prophet  meant  and  the 
Lord  wanted  to  bestow.  He  missed  much 
of  the  meaning  of  the  promise  and  the  ful- 
ness of  the  blessing.  He  reached  the  com- 
parative but  not  the  superlative  of  life.  He 
got  something  better  than  the  human,  but 
he  did  not  get  God's  best. 

Beloved,  how  solemn  is  the  application ! 
How  heart-searching  the  message  of  God 
to  us !  How  important  that  we  should  learn 
to  pray  through !  Elisha  had  learned  this 
well  when  he  was  seeking  the  double  por- 
tion.    The  prophet  had  tested  him  to  the 


Effectual  Prayer  107 

very  depths,  and  again  and  again  had  sought 
to  dissaude  him  from  his  purpose  and  turn 
him  aside  at  Gilgal,  Bethel,  Jericho  and  Jor- 
dan. But  Elisha  had  persistently  replied, 
"As  the  Lord  liveth  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I 
will  not  leave  thee."  It  was  this  that 
brought  him  the  blessing  of  his  life  and  it  is 
the  lack  of  this  that  leaves  so  many  pray- 
ers unanswered  and  so  many  purposes  bro- 
ken off. 

How  solemn  is  the  test  which  God  is  al- 
ways making  of  our  hearts!  ''Lord,  what  is 
man,"  the  patriarch  cried,  "that  Thou  dost 
magnify  him,  and  the  son  of  man  that  Thou 
shouldest  set  thine  heart  upon  him,  for 
Thou  dost  visit  him  every  morning  and  try 
him  every  moment."  Looking  upon  the 
Syrophcenician  mother  the  words  of  Christ 
seemed  harsh  as  He  again  and  again  beat 
back  her  supplication  and  her  plea.  But  all 
the  while  He  was  watching  her  indestructi- 
ble faith  even  as  the  refiner  watches  the  mol- 
ten gold  in  the  cleansing  flame,  and  when  at 
last  she  had  prayed  through  and  could  not 
be  repulsed.  He  cried,  "Oh,  woman,  great  is 
thy  faith.  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou 
wilt." 


To8  Life  More  Abundantly 

Beloved,  shall  we  claim  all  the  fulness  of 
the  promise  and  all  the  possibilities  of  be- 
lieving prayer? 


Twenty-sixth  Day 
FAITH'S   CHALLENGE 

"There  is  nothing  too  hard  for  Thee."  Jer. 
xxxii :  17. 

"Is  there  anything  too  hard  for  Me?"  Jer. 
xxxii :  27. 

"Call  unto  Me  and  I  will  answer  thee  and  show 
thee  great  and  mighty  things  which  thou  knowest 
not."     Jer.  xxxiii :  3. 

XN  the  darkest  hour  of  old  Jerusalem 
there  came  to  Jeremiah  the  hardest  test 
of  faith.  Real  estate  was  worthless  for  the 
Chaldeans  were  encamped  in  all  the  land, 
and  Jeremiah  knew  that  the  city  itself  was 
about  to  fall.  It  was  then  that  God  ap- 
peared to  the  prophet  and  commanded  him 
to  invest  his  fortune,  perhaps  all  that  he 
had,  in  a  piece  of  real  estate  outside  the 
doomed  city  in  his  old  village  home  at 
Anathoth.    It  was  surely  the  wildest  specu- 


no  Life  More  Abundantly 

lation  that  any  man  ever  ventured  on.  But 
God  told  him  to  do  it  as  an  act  of  faith  in 
the  future  restoration  of  the  land,  and  as  he 
obeyed  Jehovah  added  the  promise  "Houses 
and  fields  and  vineyards  shall  be  possessed 
again  in  this  land." 

The  prophet  obeyed  the  strange  com- 
mand and  fulfilled  the  act  of  faith,  and  then 
he  began  the  prayer  of  faith.  We  cannot 
pray  the  prayer  of  faith  till  we  have  already 
committed  ourselves  to  the  act  that  proves 
our  faith.  This  was  the  way  He  prayed, 
"Ah,  Lord  God,  behold  Thou  hast  made  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  by  Thy  great  power 
and  stretched  out  arm,  and  there  is  nothing 
too  hard  for  Thee."  There  is  no  evolution 
here.  Evolution  is  a  poor  place  for  faith. 
We  have  to  believe  in  a  God  that  can  make 
things  out  of  nothing  before  our  prayers  can 
go  very  far. 

Like  an  echo  the  answer  comes  back,  "Be- 
hold I  am  the  Lord,  the  God  of  all  flesh. 
Is  there  anything  too  hard  for  Me?"  The 
word  Anathoth  has  a  beautiful  connection 
here.  It  means  "echo,"  and  it  suggests  that 
faith  is  just  an  echo  of  God.  And  so  Jeho- 
vah continues  to  tell  the  prophet  how  He 


Faith's  Challenge  iii 

will  fulfil  his  prayer  and  exceed  his  expecta- 
tions in  the  blessings  that  are  to  come. 

Our  third  text  is  the  climax  of  this  glori- 
ous divine  message.  "Call  unto  Me  and  I 
will  answer  thee,  and  show  thee  great  and 
hidden  things  which  thou  knewest  not."  It 
is  a  fine  summary  of  the  highest  kind  of 
prayer. 

First,  it  encourages  us  to  ask  the  greatest 
things  from  God.  It  lifts  us  up  into  the 
realm  of  celestial  magnitudes  and  the  mag- 
nificence of  God's  resources.  It  is  easier 
for  God  to  do  great  and  difficult  things  than 
something  easy  and  trifling.  Faith  honors 
Him  by  counting  upon  His  infinite  re- 
sources. When  the  favorite  of  Alexander 
asked  him  for  something  almost  worth  a 
kingdom,  the  emperor  replied,  "It  may  be 
too  much  for  Parmento  to  ask,  but  it  is  not 
too  much  for  Alexander  to  give."  "Pray  for 
the  impossible,"  may  seem  too  bold  and 
startling,  and  yet  it  is  not  bolder  than  the 
Master's  words,  "All  things  are  possible 
with  God."  "All  things  are  possible  to  him 
that  believeth." 

Next,  it  bids  us  go  to  God  for  things  en- 
tirely beyond  our  past  experiences  and  our 


112  Life  More  Abundantly 

previous  standards.  He  bids  us  ask  for  "hid- 
den things  which  we  know  not."  We  are 
constantly  moving  in  a  circle.  He  wants  us 
to  break  that  monotony  and  rise  to  new 
planes,  standards,  ideals,  ventures,  in  that 
immensity  which  "Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor 
ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  the  things  which  God  hath 
prepared  for  them  that  love  Him." 

Once  more.  He  tells  us  that  He  will  an- 
swer us.  That  undoubtedly  refers  to  the 
message  which  His  Spirit  will  first  bring  to 
our  heart  and  our  faith.  He  will  give  us  the 
assurance  of  the  answer  and  He  bids  us 
without  waiting  to  see  it  in  actual  fulfilment 
believe  that  we  do  receive  the  things  that 
we  ask. 

Finally,  He  promises  after  He  has  an- 
swered to  show  us  in  actual  realization  and 
manifestation  all  that  we  believe  for.  The 
first  of  these  promises  is  the  message  over 
the  telephone.  The  second  is  the  delivery 
wagon  bringing  the  promised  blessing.  Too 
often  we  wait  like  Jacob  to  see  Joseph's 
wagons  before  we  fully  believe  in  Joseph  and 
are  at  rest  about  our  blessing.  May  the 
Holy  Spirit  lift  us  up  to  the  largeness  of  God 


Faith's  Challenge  113 

and  enable  us  to  hear  the  Master  pleading, 
"Hitherto  have  ye  asked  nothing  in  My 
name,  ask  and  receive  that  your  joy  may  be 
full." 


Twenty-seventh  Day 

HOW  GREAT  IS  YOUR  GOD? 

"I  am  the  Almighty  God,  walk  before  Me  and  be- 
thou  perfect."     Gen.  xvii :  i. 

l^vHE  glorious  name  which  Jehovah  here 
^-^  assumes  is  literally  El  Shaddai,  the  all- 
sufficient  One,  "the  God  who  is  enough"  as 
Matthew  Henry  happily  translates  it. 

The  great  question  that  determines  the 
magnitude  of  every  life  is  the  kind  of  God 
we  have.  The  man  who  has  a  limited  God 
will  have  a  limited  experience.  The  man  who 
has  caught  the  vision  of  El  Shaddai  will  live 
up  to  that  glorious  standard.  Let  us  not 
look  so  much  at  ourselves  and  try  to  pull 
ourselves  up  to  a  higher  plane,  as  some  one 
has  said,  by  our  bootstraps,  but  let  us  look 
up  to  the  God  who  is  calling  to  us  from  on 
high,  until,  like  a  mighty  magnet,  He  at- 
tracts us  to  His  own  transcendent  plans. 

It  was  the  revelation  and  realization  of 


How  Great  is  Your  God?  115 

God  that  made  Abraham  the  great  discov- 
erer of  new  worlds  of  faith  and  vision,  the 
Christopher  Columbus,  as  some  one  has 
said,  of  spiritual  discovery. 

Beloved  friend,  how  large  a  God  have 
you? 

1.  Abraham's  God  was  sufficient  to  enable 
him  to  give  up  his  home,  country,  and  earth- 
ly prospects  and  go  forth  to  a  new  world 
with  nothing  but  God.  And  the  vision  of 
such  a  God  will  enable  us  to  turn  our  backs 
upon  the  present  evil  age  and  find  our  por- 
tion and  inheritance  in  Him. 

2.  Abraham's  God  was  sufficient  to  enable 
him  once  more  to  renounce  and  let  go  all 
present  earthly  prospects  when  the  selfish- 
ness of  Lot  demanded  the  best  part  of  Abra- 
ham's inheritance.  Instead  of  wrangling 
with  his  unworthy  nephew  he  let  him  take 
his  choice  and  kept  what  Lot  left.  And  then 
God  came  to  him  that  night  and  told  him 
that  all  the  land,  including  Lot's  portion, 
should  be  his  inheritance  forever.  So  when 
we  once  get  the  vision  of  the  greatness  of 
our  God  it  is  easy  to  let  the  world  go  by  and 
wait  for  our  portion  from  Him. 

3.  Abraham's   God   was   sufficient   to   in- 


ii6  Life  More  Abundantly 

spire  him  with  faith  and  courage  to  defend 
his  inheritance  from  the  enemy  and  go  forth 
against  the  alHed  armies  of  the  East  when 
they  invaded  the  land.  What  a  daring  attack 
that  was,  and  what  a  magnificent  victory, 
reminding  one  of  Oliver  Cromwell  or  Stone- 
wall Jackson.  It  was  faith  that  prompted 
the  enterprise  and  won  the  victory.  He  did 
not  resist  Lot's  selfishness,  but  he  did  resist 
the  common  foe.  So  faith  will  lead  us  to 
defend  our  covenant  rights  from  the  great 
adversary  and  to  refuse  to  give  place  to  the 
devil  at  any  point. 

4.  Abraham's  God  was  sufficient  to  enable 
Abraham  to  believe  the  promise  of  his  seed, 
to  confess  his  faith  when  it  seemed  impossi- 
ble and  to  wait  a  quarter  of  a  century  for  its 
fulfilment.  The  very  name  he  took,  Abra- 
ham, was  a  confession  of  his  confidence  in 
the  birth  of  Isaac,  when  he  was  past  age  and 
it  was  contrary  to  all  natural  probability 
that  he  should  have  a  son.  So  faith  still 
counts  the  things  that  are  not  as  if  they  were 
because  it  has  a  God  that  can  create  things 
out  of  nothing  and  discount  the  future  as  if 
it  were  the  past. 

5.  Abraham's  God  enabled  him  to  give  up 


How  Great  is  Your  God?  117 

even  the  child  of  promise  at  God's  call  and 
trust  in  the  face  of  every  seeming  contradic- 
tion that  the  promise  would  be  fulfilled  not- 
withstanding. All  Abraham's  faith  and  future 
were  centered  in  Isaac  and  yet  God  bade  him 
lay  him  on  the  altar.  He  could  not  see  how 
it  was  possible,  humanly,  for  Isaac  to  be 
sacrificed  and  the  covenant  fulfilled.  But  he 
simply  obeyed  believing  that  His  God  was 
able  to  raise  him  even  from  the  dead,  and  his 
faith  was  honored  and  his  love  accepted,  as 
God  witnessed,  "Now  I  know  thou  lovest 
Me,  because  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son, 
thine  only  son,  from  Me."  So  we  can  give 
our  best  to  God  when  we  realize  that  the 
God  who  claims  the  sacrifice  is  able  to  give 
us  ten  thousand  times  as  much  in  return. 

6.  Abraham's  confidence  in  God  enabled 
him  to  make  intercession  for  the  cities  of 
the  plain  and  to  win  the  glorious  name  of 
"the  friend  of  God."  Beloved,  how  large  is 
our  God,  and  can  we  say  He  is  our  Friend? 


Twenty-eighth  Day 
A    LARGER    VISION 

"Lift  up  thine  eyes  and  look  from  the  place  where 
thou  art,  for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest  to  thee 
will  I  give  it."    Gen.  xiii :  14,  15. 

^TT'T  has  been  finely  said : 
'"^^  "Gideons  must  Isaiahs  be, 

Vision  first,  then  victory." 
The  apostle  Paul  has  repeated  this 
thought  in  the  second  chapter  of  First  Cor- 
inthians, "We  have  received  the  Spirit  that 
is  of  God  that  we  might  know  the  things 
which  are  freely  given  us  of  God."  A 
larger  vision  leads  to  a  larger  faith  and  ex- 
perience. The  Interpreter  takes  us  through 
all  the  Palace  Beautiful  and  then  having 
shown  us  all  its  chambers  and  its  treasures 
He  hands  us  the  key,  declaring,  "All  that 
thou  seest  is  thine."  Let  us  ask  God,  there- 
fore, to  give  us  the  largest  possible  vision  of 
our  spiritual  inheritance. 


A  Larger  Vision  119 

This  is  the  thought  underlying  the  great 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  After  the  refer- 
ence to  the  sealing  of  the  Spirit  he  immedi- 
ately prays  that  we  may  have  "the  Spirit  of 
revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  Him,  that  the 
eyes  of  our  heart  being  enlightened  we  may 
know  the  exceeding  greatness  of  His  power 
to  usward  who  believe."  Then  he  proceeds 
to  lead  us  into  the  experience  of  the  vision, 
until  it  culminates  in  the  exhortation,  "Be 
filled  with  the  Spirit." 

Hagar,  weeping  in  the  wilderness  in  deep 
despair,  needs  only  to  have  her  eyes  opened 
to  behold  the  well  that  was  already  there 
and  to  find  all  her  wants  supplied.  Abra- 
ham, raising  the  knife  to  slay  his  son  on 
Mount  Moriah,  "lifted  up  his  eyes  and 
looked,  and  behold  behind  him  a  ram  caught 
in  the  thicket  by  his  horns,  and  he  took  the 
ram  and  offered  him  up  for  a  burnt  offering 
in  the  stead  of  his  son,  and  he  called  the 
name  of  that  place,  Jehovah  Jireh,  in  the 
mount  of  the  Lord  it  shall  be  seen."  He,  too, 
had  seen  a  vision  of  which  Christ  afterwards 
spake,  "Abraham,  your  father  rejoiced  to  see 
My  day,  and  he  saw  it  and  was  glad."  Still 
faith  needs  to  be  divinely  illumined  to  "be- 


120  Life  More  Abundantly 

hold  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world." 

Moses,  standing  at  Marah  amid  the  mur- 
murings  of  the  people  who  could  not  drink 
of  the  bitter  waters,  "cried  unto  the  Lord 
and  the  Lord  showed  him  a  tree,  which, 
when  he  had  cast  into  the  waters  the 
waters  were  made  sweet."  That  branch  of 
healing  is  still  beside  us,  but,  oh,  how  many 
there  are  that  never  see  it,  and  suffer  and 
sink  in  disease  and  death  along  the  way. 

Elisha  on  the  mount,  surrounded  by  the 
cavalry  of  the  Syrians,  lifts  up  his  head  with 
triumph  while  his  servant  is  wailing  in  dis- 
may. And  the  prophet  simply  asks  the  Lord 
to  open  his  eyes  and  let  him  see  the  chariots 
of  God  encamped  around  them  in  their  de- 
fence. 

Again  the  apostle  tells  us  how  the  wise 
and  cultured  of  this  world  esteem  the  gospel 
as  foolishness  and  lose  the  vision  of  the 
Christ  because  "Eye  hath  not  seen,  neither 
ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  the  things  that  God  hath  pre- 
pared for  them  that  love  Him ;  but  God  hath 
revealed  them  unto  us  by  His  Spirit,"  and 
"we  have  received  the  Spirit  which  is  of 


A  Larger  Vision  121 

God,  that  we  might  know  the  things  which 
are  freely  given  to  us  of  God." 

So  God  is  calling  us  to  lift  up  our  eyes 
and  behold  the  vision  of  our  land  of  promise. 
Let  us  look  northward  and  southward  and 
eastward  and  westward.  Northward  are 
stormy  winds  and  desolate  wastes,  but  God 
is  there  in  His  all-sufhcient  grace.  South- 
ward are  burning  sands  and  scorching  suns. 
But  there  faith  can  see  the  upper  and  the 
nether  springs.  Eastward  is  the  sunrise  of 
the  great  unknown  future.  But  there  we 
may  behold  the  vision  of  the  Lamb  opening 
the  seals  of  life  and  preparing  for  us  all  the 
riches  of  the  glory  of  His  inheritance  in  the 
saints,  and  waiting  to  guide  us  into  our 
promised  land.  And  westward  lie  the  setting 
sun  and  the  shadows  of  the  eventide  and 
the  darkness  of  the  night.  But  to  the  vision 
of  faith,  "At  eventime  it  shall  be  light,"  and 
"There  shall  be  no  night  there."  Let  us  take 
in  all  the  land  and  then  let  us  hear  Him  say, 
"All  that  thou  seest  will  I  give  thee,"  and 
some  day  we  shall  be  able  to  say,  "Nothing 
failed  of  all  that  the  Lord  had  spoken,  all 
came  to  pass." 


Twenty-ninth  Day 
A    GREAT    AMBITION 

"Having  an  ambition  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the 
regions  beyond  you."    2  Cor.  x :  15,   16. 

^^^HE  superlative  of  life  means  much  more 
^^  than  a  Christian  experience  terminat- 
ing" on  itself  and  bounded  by  the  narrow 
limits  of  its  own  blessing.  The  well  spring 
in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  John 
becomes  rivers  of  living  water  when  it  be- 
gins to  flow  out  to  other  lives. 

Our  text  speaks  of  a  noble  ambition  on 
the  part  of  the  great  apostle  to  reach  be- 
yond all  selfish  limitations  to  the  needs  of 
others,  and  even  yet  farther  to  the  largest 
of  all  needs,  the  need  of  a  lost  heathen 
world.  Yes,  and  still  farther  does  his  ambi- 
tion stretch  to  the  most  destitute  and  ne- 
glected parts  even  of  this  desolate  field.  He 
wants  to  go  where  no  other  feet  have  gone, 
and  to  tell  the  story  where  no  other  voice 


A  Great  Ambition  123 

has  witnessed  of  the  redeeming  love  and 
precious  blood  of  His  blessed  Master.  And 
that  ambition  never  rested  until  it  had 
reached  its  goal  and  he  could  say  in  the  hear- 
ing of  countless  living  witnesses,  "From 
Jerusalem  and  round  about  Illyricum  I  have 
fully  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ,  yea,  so 
liave  I  strived  to  preach  the  gospel,  not 
where  Christ  was  named,  lest  I  should  build 
upon  another  man's  foundation,  but  as  it  is 
written,  to  whom  He  was  not  spoken  of, 
they  shall  see,  and  they  that  have  not  heard 
shall  understand." 

Here  we  have  the  picture  of  a  sublime  am- 
bition, first  to  live  an  unselfish  hfe  that 
reaches  beyond  himself ;  second,  to  carry  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen  world,  and  thirdly, 
even  in  this  to  go  to  the  regions  beyond 
where  others  have  not  gone. 

This  has  been  truly  called  the  greatest 
work  in  the  world.  We  are  justified  in  re- 
garding such  an  ambition  as  the  noblest  of 
all  divine  passions.  Would  to  God  that  pas- 
sion might  be  kindled  afresh  in  the  heart  of 
some  one  who  reads  these  lines. 

I.  Consider  the  magnificence  of  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  its  glorious  history,  its 


124  Life  More  Abundantly 

hallowed  associations,  the  noble  names  of 
missionaries  and  martyrs  that  have  been 
identified  with  it,  the  vast  scope  of  its  plan 
and  program,  the  untold  blessings  which  it 
brings  even  on  the  human  plane  to  suffering 
humanity,  and  the  glorious  message  which  it 
carries  of  salvation,  life,  and  eternal  hope. 
What  work  can  be  compared  with  this  in 
loftiness  and  attraction  to  every  noble 
nature  ? 

2.  Consider  the  awful  need  of  the  world. 
Even  on  the  secular  plane  the  gospel  is  the 
highest  and  best  remedy  for  the  curse  of 
heathenism,  the  shame  of  womanhood,  the 
blight  of  childhood,  the  opium  curse  of 
China,  the  witch  doctor  of  Africa,  the  pov- 
erty of  India  and  the  ignorance,  degra- 
dation and  misery  of  a  thousand  millions  of 
our  fellow  beings.  But  the  gospel  is  the 
only  remedy  for  their  spiritual  destitution 
and  their  religious  need.  All  human  relig- 
ions fail  to  bridge  the  gulf  between  man  and 
God,  and  to  us  as  the  disciples  of  Christ  has 
been  given  the  only  message  that  can  give 
one  chance  of  eternal  life  to  every  human 
soul.  What  a  sacred  trust !  What  an  awful 
responsibility!     What  a  sublime  ambition! 


A  Great  Ambition  125 

3.  Consider  what  it  means  to  our  Master's 
heart  for  He  has  already  made  the  mighty 
sacrifice  of  His  own  life  to  make  this  enter- 
prise possible.  He  has  died  not  only  for  us, 
but  for  the  world,  and  if  need  be  would  die 
again.  Shall  we  allow  that  precious  blood 
to  be  shed  in  vain,  or  shall  we  let  Him  see 
of  the  travail  of  His  soul  in  its  efficacy  to 
save  the  yet  unevangelized  millions  who 
wait  for  our  message?  Surely,  ambition  and 
devotion  should  combine  to  make  each  one 
of  us  as  much  as  in  us  is  real  missionaries. 

4.  And  consider  the  marvelous  opportuni- 
ties which  the  providence  of  God  is  giving  us 
to-day  to  evangelize  our  own  generation.  All 
the  forces  of  heaven  and  all  the  resources 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  seem  to  be  concentrated 
on  earth's  mission  fields.  The  seraphim  are 
crying,  "Holy,  holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  God  of 
hosts.  The  whole  earth  is  full  of  His  glory." 
God  is  calling,  "Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who 
will  go  for  us?"  Oh,  let  it  be  our  sublime 
ambition  to  answer  quickly,  "Here  am  I,  oh, 
Lord,  send  me !" 


Thirtieth  Day 
LIVING   OUR   BIBLES 

"There  failed  not  aught  of  any  good  thing  which 
the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  the  house  of  Israel.  All 
came  to  pass."     Josh,  xxi :  45. 

XS  it  possible  to  translate  the  whole  Bible 
into  a  human  life  and  to  live  out  in 
actual  experience  all  that  we  know  and  be- 
lieve? 

This  has  been  done  in  one  human  life  at 
least.  It  was  the  continual  purpose  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  fulfil  every  Scripture 
which  had  been  written  of  Him,  and  He 
could  not  die  until  the  last  of  these  prophe- 
cies had  come  to  pass.  Again  and  again  we 
read  in  the  story  of  His  life,  "For  thus  must 
the  Scripture  be  fulfilled."  The  life  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  was,  therefore,  a  living  Bible. 
Why  should  not  our  lives  be  the  same? 

The  Word  of  God  has  been  inspired  and 
recorded  amid  every  conceivable  variety  of 


Living  Our  Bibles  127 

human  experience  and  touches  our  life  at 
every  point.  Therefore,  it  "is  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  in- 
struction in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of 
God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished 
unto  all  good  works."  It  would  save  us 
from  a  great  deal  of  narrowness,  shallow- 
ness, and  instability  if  we  made  it  the  pur- 
pose of  our  life  to  possess  a  genuine  Bible 
Christanity,  and  our  high  ambition  to  fulfil 
every  Scripture  that  has  been  written  for 
our  profit. 

For  example,  do  we  want  to  get  correct 
ideas  of  the  physical  universe  and  the  mate- 
rial creation?  We  do  not  need  to  spend  our 
lives  studying  worms  and  apes  to  find  this 
out,  for  "By  faith  we  understand  that  the 
worlds  were  framed  by  the  Word  of  God,  so 
that  the  things  which  are  seen  were  not 
made  of  things  which  do  appear." 

Do  we  want  to  have  a  satisfactory  assur- 
ance of  our  personal  salvation?  We  turn  to 
the  last  chapter  of  the  first  Epistle  of  John, 
and  we  read,  "This  is  the  record,  that  God 
hath  given  to  us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is 
in  His  Son.  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath 
life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God 


128  Life  More  Abundantly 

hath  not  life.  If  we  receive  the  witness  of 
men,  the  witness  of  God  is  greater.  He  that 
beHeveth  not  God  hath  made  Him  a  Har,  be- 
cause he  beHeveth  not  the  record  that  God 
gave  of  His  Son.  These  things  have  I  writ- 
ten unto  you  that  believe  on  the  name  of  the 
Son  of  God  that  ye  may  know  that  ye  have 
eternal  life,  and  that  ye  may  beheve  on  the 
name  of  the  Son  of  God."  There  we  find  a 
divine  foundation  for  the  assurance  of  faith 
by  simply  taking  God  at  His  Word  and  tak- 
ing the  life  which  He  freely  gives  us  through 
His  Son. 

Are  we  seeking  for  the  deeper  experience 
of  complete  victory  over  sin  and  a  life  of 
holiness,  peace  and  power  ?  Again  we  have 
in  our  own  Bible  the  promise  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  as  our 
Sanctification  and  Life,  and  the  divine  assur- 
ance that  it  is  the  will  of  God  to  sanctify  us 
through  and  through  and  that  our  "whole 
spirit,  soul,  and  body  be  preserved  blame- 
less unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

Are  we  fighting  the  battle  of  temptation? 
Again  we  are  reminded  that  the  Master  met 
the  tempter  with  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and 


Living  Our  Bibles  129 

before  every  thrust  of  tliose  resistless  words, 
"It  is  written,"  the  enemy  retreated,  and 
that  that  living  Word  is  still  our  potent  ar- 
mor against  all  the  wiles  of  the  adversary. 

Are  we  seeking  direction  in  the  perplexi- 
ties of  life?  Again  we  read,  "If  any  man 
lack  W'isdom  let  him  ask  of  God  who  giveth 
to  all  men  liberal!}',  "and  it  shall  be  given 
him." 

Are  we  sick  and  wondering  where  to  go 
for  help  and  healing?  Our  Bibles  meet  us 
at  once  with  a  divine  prescription.  "Is  any 
man  sick  among  you  ?  Let  him  call  for  the 
elders  of  the  church,  and  let  them  pray  over 
him,,  anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save 
the  sick,"  "and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up." 
What  a  comfort  it  is  to  simply  obey  the 
Lord  and  leave  the  responsibility  with  Him! 

Have  we  some  trouble  with  a  brother  who 
has  wronged  us?  Again,  instead  of  telling 
all  the  neighbors  and  raising  a  cloud  of  re- 
proach upon  the  cause  of  Christ,  our  Bible 
has  told  us  exactly  what  to  do,  namely,  to 
first  deal  with  him  privately  and  faithfully, 
and  then  if  this  fails,  take  one  or  two  others 
with  us,  and  then  as  a  last  resort  appeal  to 


130  Life  More  Abundantly 

the  church  of  God.  Thus  in  a  thousand 
ways  the  Word  of  God  is  a  sufficient  man- 
ual and  guide.  Are  we  Hving  it  out  in  all  its 
promises  and  precepts  and  in  all  the  length 
and  breadth  of  our  daily  lives? 


Thirty-first  Day 

THE   MASTER'S   WELL  DONE 

"That  we  may  have  confidence  and  not  be  ashamed 
before  Him  at  His  coming."     i  John  ii :  28. 

OHE  coming  of  our  Lord  is  the  Blessed 
Hope  of  the  believer.  But  it  is  a  very 
solemn  as  well  as  a  very  sweet  anticipation. 
Our  text  suggests  that  there  are  some 
even  of  His  own  disciples  who  shall  be 
ashamed  before  Him  at  His  coming.  The 
Lord  Jesus  has  given  us  the  picture  of  the 
watching  servants  who  are  waiting  to  open 
to  Him  immediately  and  those  who  are 
taken  by  sad  surprise.  We  read  in  i  Cor. 
iii:  13-15,  that  that  day  is  to  make  manifest 
our  work  and  try  it  by  fire  and  that  in  that 
awful  ordeal  the  works  of  many  shall  be 
found  to  be  but  wood  and  hay  and  stubble 
and  shall  be  dissolved  in  flames  and  leave 
the  worker  himself  to  be  saved  as  by  fire. 
We  read  of  others  who  shall  give  account 
with  grief  and  not  with  joy.     We  have  the 


132  Life  More  Abundantly 

solemn  pictures  of  the  servants  returning 
their  single  talent  and  their  single  pound  un- 
invested and  unimproved,  and  receiving  not 
the  approbation,  but  the  severest  reproba- 
tion of  the  Lord,  while  the  faithful  servants 
receive  His  open  approval  and  the  glorious 
recompense  of  their  reward. 

How  solemnly  the  apostle  Paul  looks  for- 
ward to  the  rendering  of  his  account  as  a 
witness  for  Christ  and  a  steward  of  the  gos- 
pel. "Wherefore  we  labor  that  whether  pres- 
ent or  absent  Vv'e  may  be  accepted  of  Him, 
for  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment 
seat  of  Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive 
the  things  done  in  his  body  according  to  that 
he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad. 
Knowing  therefore  the  terror  of  the  Lord, 
we  persuade  men."  How  vigilantly  he 
watches  against  every  weight  and  sin  as  he 
runs  his  glorious  race  for  an  incorruptible 
crown !  "I,  therefore,  so  run,  not  as  uncer- 
tainly, so  fight  I  not  as  one  that  beateth  the 
air,  but  I  keep  under  my  body  and  bring  it 
into  subjection,  lest  that  by  any  means  when 
I  have  preached  to  others  I  myself  should 
be  a  castaway."  This  word  "castaway"  has 
no  reference  to  the  final  loss  of  his  salva- 


The  Master's  Will  Done  133 

tion.  It  literally  means  "disapproved/  and 
has  special  reference  to  the  verdict  of  the 
judges  regarding  the  competitors  for  the 
prize.  "One  receiveth  the  prize"  while  the 
others  are  "castaway"  or  disapproved. 

The  apostle  Peter  in  the  first  chapter  of 
his  second  epistle  uses  an  expression  that 
was  suggested  by  the  public  arena  where 
men  contended  in  the  race.  It  was  at  the 
home  stretch  when  the  goal  was  in  full  view 
that  the  greatest  eflforts  were  made  both  by 
the  competitor  and  those  that  encouraged 
him  from  the  galleries,  and  there  was  a  spe- 
cial signal  set  up  at  the  point  where  the 
racers  turned  into  the  home  stretch  on  which 
the  letters  were  emblazoned,  "Make  speed!" 
Peter  uses  this  very  expression  (i:io), 
where  he  says,  "Wherefore  the  rather,  breth- 
ren, give  diligence  (make  speed),  to  make 
your  calling  and  election  sure,  for  if  ye  do 
these  things  ye  shall  never  fall,  for  so  an 
entrance  shall  be  ministered  unto  you 
abimdantly  into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  Are 
we  making  sure  of  that  abundant  entrance, 
or  shall  we  be  "ashamed  before  Him  at  His 
cominsf"? 


134  Life  More  Abundantly 

In  his  solemn  message  to  the  church  in 
Philadelphia,  the  church  which  came  nearest 
of  all  the  seven  to  meeting  His  complete  ap- 
proval, the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  His  last 
words  to  the  Christian  age,  utters  this  sig- 
nificant warning,  "Behold,  I  come  quickly, 
hold  that  fast  which  thou  hast  that  no  man 
take  thy  crown."  Even  the  church  in  Phila- 
delphia was  in  danger  of  losing  its  crown. 
This  is  not  losing  salvation,  but  it  is  missing 
God's  best. 

The  grace  of  God  is  free  even  to  the  vilest 
sinner,  but  the  thrones  of  the  millennial  age 
are  won  by  sacrifice,  service  and  victorious 
achievement.  The  Lord  is  giving  us  oppor- 
tunities continually  to  lose  or  win  a  crown. 
Let  us  give  heed  to  the  faithful  admonition 
of  the  apostle  of  love  to  one  of  his  cherished 
friends,  "Look  to  yourselves  that  we  lose 
not  those  things  which  we  have  wrought,  but 
that  we  receive  a  full  reward." 

"And  now,  little  children,  abide  in  Him, 
that  when  He  shall  appear  we  may  have 
confidence  and  not  be  ashamed  before  Him 
at  His  coming." 


Date  Due 


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Dt 


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